Epidemiology of injuries among amateur athletes who attended fitness activities: the role of the qualification of the trainer.

Abstract

The fitness trainer could have an important role in the prevention of injuries among fitness attendants. In several Countries, including Italy, there is not a formal regulation about the qualification of fitness trainers. The aim of our study is to estimate the incidence of injuries in a sample of amateur fitness athletes training in Apulia (southern Italy) and evaluate if being the presence of a trainer graduated in Sports and Movement Science could be a protective factor for injuries. This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study, carried out in a convenience sample of amateur athletes enrolled in 16 Apulian fitness centers. The survey was carried out by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire distributed and compiled in the gym. We enrolled 205 amateur athletes, of which 105/205 (51.2%) cared by a trainer graduated in Sports and Movement Science and 100/205 (48.8%) trained by a person with a qualification from Olympic Committee or Sport Federation. The incidence rate of injury ×1000 person-months of training is 6.1 (95%CI=4.4-8.1), 5.5 (95%CI=3.1-9.2) among athletes trained by graduated and 6.3 (95%CI=4.2-9.2) in ones trained by a person with a different qualification (IRR=1.1; 95%CI=0.6-2.3; P=0.348). Our study showed a mild lifetime prevalence of injury among subjects attending fitness activities (21%), higher among athletes trained by an instructor not graduated in Sports Science. This is a topic poorly investigated previously but very important in the future, in particular in the view of the diffusion of fitness worldwide.