Abstract
Background: Distance running is one of the most popular sports around the world. The epidemiology of running-related injury (RRI) has been investigated in adults, but few studies have focused on adolescent distance runners.Objectives: (1) To provide descriptive epidemiology of RRI (risks, rates, body regions/areas, and severity) and examine the training practices (frequency, volume, and intensity) of competitive adolescent distance runners (13–18 years) in England, and (2) to describe potential risk factors of RRI.Methods: A cross-sectional study design was used. Adolescent distance runners (n = 113) were recruited from England Athletics affiliated clubs. Participants voluntarily completed an online questionnaire between April and December 2018. At the time of completion, responses were based on the participant's previous 12-months of distance running participation. Incidence proportions (IP) and incidence rates (IR) were calculated.Results: The IP for “all RRI” was 68% (95% CI: 60–77), while the IR was 6.3/1,000 participation hours (95% CI: 5.3–7.4). The most commonly injured body areas were the knee, foot/toes, and lower leg; primarily caused by overuse. The number of training sessions per week (i.e., frequency) significantly increased with chronological age, while a large proportion of participants (58%) self-reported a high level of specialisation.Conclusions: RRI is common in competitive adolescent distance runners. These descriptive data provide guidance for the development of RRI prevention measures. However, analytical epidemiology is required to provide better insight into potential RRI risk factors in this specific population.
Highlights
Distance running is one of the most popular sports around the world (Hulteen et al, 2017)
Ethics approval was granted by the Abbreviations: %, Percentage; body mass index (BMI), Body mass index; CI, Confidence intervals; IOC, International Olympic Committee; IP, Incidence proportion; interquartile range (IQR), Interquartile range; incidence rate (IR), Incidence rate; RPE, Rating of perceived exertion; running-related injury (RRI), Running-related injuries; standard deviations (SD), Standard deviations; session RPE (sRPE), Session rating of perceived exertion; X2, Chi-squared test
Two participants were excluded from the results as they were not members of an England Athletics affiliated club, resulting in a sample of 113 adolescent distance runners (64 female)
Summary
Distance running is one of the most popular sports around the world (Hulteen et al, 2017). Systematic reviews highlight that RRI rates range from 2.5 to 33.0 injuries per 1,000 h of participation in adult distance runners (Videbaek et al, 2015), whereas incidence proportions range from 3.2 to 79.3% (van Gent et al, 2007; Kluitenberg et al, 2015). This variation may be explained by differences in research methodology (Tabben et al, 2019). The epidemiology of running-related injury (RRI) has been investigated in adults, but few studies have focused on adolescent distance runners
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