Sleep and musculoskeletal complaints among elite athletes of Santa Catarina

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There are many physiological processes going on during sleep which are important for physical and emotional balance and especially for motor function, essential for athletes' performance. This study aimed at investigating associations between sleep duration and quality and musculoskeletal complaints among elite athletes of the state of Santa Catarina. METHODS: Four hundred and fifty-two athletes from various sports have been investigated on issues related to sleep (duration, quality) and musculoskeletal complaints in body parts through the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, respectively. The association between sleep and muscle pain was analyzed by Spearman's correlation of “number of painful body parts” and “Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores”. RESULTS: Mean age of athletes was 21.16 years (5.82), being 61.1% females and 38% with poor sleep quality and association between the amount of nighttime awakenings with nocturnal pain (p <0.001). There has been high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain, more evident on knees, shoulders, ankle/feet and low back. The number of painful parts was correlated (r=0.216) with higher Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores (p<0.001). CONCLUSION: Athletes had high prevalence of poor sleep quality and musculoskeletal pain complaints, especially on knee, shoulders, back and ankle/feet. The correlation between poor sleep quality and pain was more evident as the number of affected body parts increased. Athletes with poorer sleep quality had more pain as compared to those with sleep duration changes, suggesting that musculoskeletal complaints are associated to athletes' sleep quality rather than to sleep duration.