Injury in CrossFit beginner / intermediary participants: a systematic review

Abstract

Objective: Sports injury can occur due to several factors, which makes it extremely difficult to conduct cause and effect studies by controlling and evaluating a specific variable. Common reason for the appearance of injuries is poor physical preparation for the proposed training load, a factor that is more present in high intensity sports.
 CrossFit has been gaining a great deal of attention in recent years due to its dynamic mix of varied sports. Beginner and intermediary level participants are very common in CrossFit gyms, so the understanding the training effect for this group is very important for healthy practice (aiming for safety and injury rate).
 Methods: Only original articles were included, between 2000 and 2019 (November), with the search for the word "CrossFit" in nine databases. It was accepted only studies in Portuguese, English or Spanish.
 Results: After screening, only three studies met the inclusion criteria following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses assessment. The most common injury segments in beginner and intermediate practitioners were the shoulder and the knee. There are functional and morphological mechanisms that makes injury become more common, such as life habits and anatomic / physiological body disposition.
 Conclusion: CrossFit beginners and intermediaries participants demonstrated moderate injury level. Studies with more subjects showed a lower injury level. The most injured segments found were knee and shoulder. According to our results the risk of injury in CrossFit beginner and intermediary participants is acceptable, and discussed in recent published reviews.