Abstract
BackgroundMost injuries in track and field are caused by overuse with conflicting reports concerning the underlying mechanisms. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how biomechanical and clinical factors relate to the risk of overuse injuries, and to investigate whether the relationships between potential risk factors and injury become stronger if injuries are grouped by location.MethodsThe study is a prospective cohort study conducted during a Swedish track and field season over eleven months, from October to August. The cohort consisted of elite male and female track and field athletes competing in either middle- and long-distance running, sprinting, jumping, or throwing events (n = 96). Athletes performed a baseline screening at enrollment consisting of a clinical examination, running, and strength tests. Injury data was collected during the season by medical professionals and divided according to their anatomical location into upper-body, thigh/hip, knee, or foot/shank injuries.ResultsThirty-four (54.8%) injuries where located at the foot/shank, followed by sixteen injuries at the thigh/hip (25.8%). Only eight knee (12.9%) and four upper-body (6.5%) injuries were registered during the season and therefore not analysed. Effect sizes were calculated for all test variables. Small effect sizes (rpb = .10–.23) were found for eleven risk factors between the overall injured (all injuries combined) and non-injured athletes. By further sub-grouping the injured group into thigh/hip injuries, effect size increased in hip adduction range of motion knee flexion velocity and the muscle flexibility of the iliopsoas. For foot/shank injuries, only the hamstring:quadriceps strength ratios increased for the right side to a small effect size.ConclusionsInjury grouping appears to increase effect size for certain risk factors. Athletes with a slower knee flexion velocity during stance phase were more likely to become injured (p-value <.03, rpb = .37). An increased cohort size to further sub-divide injuries into specific diagnoses is needed.
Highlights
Most injuries in track and field are caused by overuse with conflicting reports concerning the underlying mechanisms
There is, limited information on how overuse injuries (OI) develop in elite track and field
The aim of this paper was twofold: (1) to evaluate how biomechanical factors and clinical factors relate to the risk of OI in a cohort of elite Swedish track and field athletes, and (2) to investigate whether the relationships between the potential risk factors and injury become stronger if injuries are grouped by location
Summary
Most injuries in track and field are caused by overuse with conflicting reports concerning the underlying mechanisms. Track and field is the collective name for a combination of sporting events, including middle- and long-distance running, sprint, jumping, and throwing events. Regardless of subjects’ gender and age, has emphasized the high number of injuries in recreational and collegiate track and field [1,2,3,4,5], as well as elite track and field [6,7,8], with a consensus that the main cause of injury is overuse. Athlete’s previous injury history, high training volume, and different biomechanical factors are assumed to be contributing risk factors [6, 7, 10, 11]
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