Finger Injuries in Sport Climbing

Sport climbing is a popular recreational sport with an increasing proportion of female athletes. International recommendations emphasize the physical and mental benefits of regular sport activity during any uncomplicated pregnancy. In this context, sport climbing is associated with a high risk potential.The aim of this study was to examine if there is a higher risk for preterm birth in active climbing athletes.Original manuscript.A retrospective self-report online survey in the German language collected data between September 2012 and November 2013. In addition to anthropometric and demographic data, data on climbing experience, preferred climbing discipline, skill level and changes of climbing habits during pregnancy, known risk factors for preterm birth and information on delivery and the newborn were requested. The rate of preterm birth of the survey was tested with Fisher's exact test with information from the German Federal Statistical Office.Sample size was 32. 72% had a university degree, 81% were primiparous, all were singleton pregnancies. A 33rd questionnaire was excluded because of described preeclampsia. Age ranged between 21 and 39 years, climbing experience before pregnancy between 2 and 24 years, and skill level before pregnancy between 4 and 7 on the UIAA scale (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation). Half of the women climbed until the 36th week and 90% adjusted their climbing habits mostly by reducing climbing difficulty and doing more top roping. 2 preterm births in the 36th week of gestation were found (2 from 15, p=0.36). According to the data from the German Federal Statistical Office, 8.9% births in the year 2013 in Germany were preterm.This is the first study investigating the risk of preterm birth in recreational sport climbing athletes. No significantly higher proportion of preterm birth could be found. Limitations are small sample size and high social status of participants. What is known about the subject: Sport climbing is not a high-risk sport, but it is regarded as a dynamic whole-body exercise and has been shown to be a valuable therapy for various physical and mental diseases. Higher performance levels are associated with overuse damage to the upper extremity, especially the fingers. What this study adds to existing knowledge: This is first study investigating climbing-related risk of preterm birth. When continuing sport climbing as a recreational activity during an uncomplicated pregnancy, experienced athletes do not have a higher risk of adverse events.

Purpose: Originating from mountaineering, rock climbing has encountered fresh opportunities for growth since its inclusion in the Olympics, and there is a growing awareness of the associated injury risks. Methods: Using questionnaire survey and mathematical statistics methods, this paper studied the epidemiological characteristics of sports injuries among Chinese college rock-climbing athletes by 6 Chinese university rock-climbing teams. Results: The incidence of sports injury was as high as 87.10%, and the annual incidence of injury was 3.39 times/year. The number of injuries was mainly 1 time (43.55%), and the number of injuries was less in 4 (8.06%;) or 5 times (1.61%). A total of 105 injuries occurred, involving 107 body parts. Finger injuries were the most frequent, 30 times (28.04%), and followed by knee joint 12 times (11.21%). The most common injuries were abrasions (39.25%) followed by strains (26.17%) and impact injuries (13.08%). The incidence of acute injury was much higher than that of chronic injury, with 73 acute injuries (69.52%) and 32 chronic injuries (30.48%). UIAA1 injury was the most, 93 times (88.57%), followed by UIAA2 injury 10 times (9.52%). UIAA3 injury was once (0.95%). The most injuries occurred during training with 88 times (83.81%), followed by 11 times in competition (10.48%) and 6 times in other times (5.71%). Rock climbing events had the most injuries with 53 times (50.48%), followed by 32 times (30.48%), speed 15 times (14.29%) and other 5 times (4.76%). The factors influencing the occurrence of injury include risk factors and inducing events. The most important risk factors were the awareness of injury protection (P < 0.05), sufficient preparation activities (P < 0.05), wearing professional climbing shoes (P < 0.05), and qualified protectors (P < 0.05). Insufficient warm-up (n=41; 26.28%), the athlete's own technical movement error (n=35; 22.44%), excessive exercise load (n=25; 16.03%) were the most major injury-inducing event. Conclusion: Chinese college rock climbers face a high incidence of injuries, affecting various body sites and manifesting in numerous injury types. The injuries tend to be of a relatively mild degree, and the risk factors are complex and variable. It is crucial for the Chinese community to approach rock climbing injuries with reason, diligently avoid associated risk factors, enhance support for rock climbing injury research, and foster the healthy and rapid development of rock climbing among Chinese college students.

Injuries in Bouldering: A Prospective Study

Background:Youth athletes are starting sports earlier and training harder. Intense,year-round demands are encouraging early sports specialization under theperception that it will improve the odds of future elite performance.Unfortunately, there is growing evidence that early specialization isassociated with increased risk of injury and burnout. This is especiallytrue of pediatric and adolescent baseball players.Purpose/Hypothesis:The purpose of this investigation was to analyze national injury trends ofyouth baseball players. We hypothesized that while the total number ofbaseball injuries diagnosed over the past decade would decrease, there wouldbe an increase in adolescent elbow injuries seen nationally. A furtherhypothesis was that this trend would be significantly greater than otherinjuries to the upper extremity and major joints.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiology study.Methods:Injury data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, a UnitedStates Consumer Product Safety Commission database, were analyzed betweenJanuary 1, 2006, and December 31, 2016, for baseball players aged ≤18 years.Data were collected on the location of injury, diagnosis, and mechanism ofinjury.Results:Between 2006 and 2016, an estimated 665,133 baseball injuries occurrednationally. The mean age of the injured players was 11.5 years. The mostcommon injuries diagnosed included contusions (26.8%), fractures (23.6%),and strains and sprains (18.7%). Among major joints, the ankle (25.6%) wasmost commonly injured, followed by the knee (21.3%), wrist (19.2%), elbow(17.7%), and shoulder (16.2%). The incidence of the ankle, knee, wrist, andshoulder injuries decreased over time, while only the incidence of elbowinjuries increased. A linear regression analysis demonstrated that theincreasing incidence of elbow injuries was statistically significant againstthe decreasing trend for all baseball injury diagnoses, as well as ankle,knee, wrist, hand, and finger injuries (P < .05).Additionally, the only elbow injury mechanism that increased substantiallyover time was throwing.Conclusion:The current investigation found that while the incidence of baseball injuriessustained by youth players is decreasing, elbow pathology is becoming moreprevalent and is more commonly being caused by throwing. Given that themajority of elbow injuries among adolescent baseball players are overuseinjuries, these findings underscore the importance of developing strategiesto continue to ensure the safety of these youth athletes.

Golf is a popular sport that is enjoyed by millions of people worldwide of differing ages and abilities. The game of golf is considered relatively benign in nature, however, it has been well documented that injuries do occur. A number of studies have revealed the prevalence of golf injuries related to the back, elbow, and shoulder that could potentially be prevented by the commonly proposed countermeasure of performing an appropriate warm-up. PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of a golf-specific warm-up program on the incidence of injuries to golfers. METHODS: This study was a cluster randomized controlled trial. A total of 344 golfers aged 18 – 66 years were randomly allocated to either the control (n = 166) or warm-up (n = 178) group. Participation in practice and games, and, in the warm-up group, compliance to the warm-up program was monitored over a 6-month period in 2004 / 2005. All injury characteristics (location, time of injury, and severity) were recorded using a golf specific injury reporting form. The severity of the injuries was calculated using both treatment length and time away from golf play and practice. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences between the groups in relation to number of golfers (p=0.7), age (p=0.6), handicap (p=0.4), gender (p=0.9), and previous 12-month injury status (p=0.6). During the 6-month period, 68 injuries occurred; 10 in the intervention group and 58 in the control group (p<0.001). Golfers in the intervention group were at a lower risk of injury compared to golfers in the control group (odds ratio = 9.0, 95% C.I. 4.4, 18.4). The intervention group sustained their injuries later in the round compared to the control group (median hole 8 vs 14), and the severity of the injuries were more pronounced in the control group compared to the intervention group both in treatment length and time lost. The intervention group did not sustain any severe injuries, with the majority of the injuries sustained being mild (<7 days) under both conditions, while the injuries in the control group were classified moderately severe (7–21 days) under both conditions. The non-injured intervention group golfers warmed-up appropriately 96.0% of the time compared to the injured intervention group golfers 63.0% of the time. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of injury in golfers using a golf-specific warm-up program prior to play and practice was significantly reduced, especially the incidence of severe injuries. The reduction in incidence is highly significant and has been adjusted for the cluster sampling. This is the first randomized controlled trial with sufficient sample size to show that golf injuries can be prevented by performing a golf-specific warm-up program.

Background (1): Football is the most popular sport among men, associated with a certain risk of injury, which leads to short- and long-term health consequences. While the injury profile of professional footballers is known, little is known about the injury profile of amateur footballers; amateur football is a major and diverse area, the development of which should be a priority for football associations around the world and UEFA. The aim of this study was to perform a systematic review of epidemiological literature data on injuries in professional and amateur football players belonging to certain leagues. Methods (2): A systematic review according to the PRISMA guidelines was performed until June 2023 in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, Google Academic, Google Scholar, and Diva portal. Forty-six studies reporting injury incidence in professional and amateur men’s football were selected and analyzed. Two reviewers independently extracted data and assessed study quality using an adapted version of the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement and the Newcastle Ottawa Scale (NOS) to assess risk of bias for the quality of external validity. Results (3): The overall incidence of injuries in professional male football players was 7.75 ± 2.28, 95% confidence interval, injuries/1000 h of exposure and that of amateur football players was 7.98 ± 2.95, 95% confidence interval, injuries/1000 h of exposure. The incidence of match injuries (30.64 ± 10.28, 95% confidence interval, injuries/1000 exposure hours) was 7.71 times higher than the training injury incidence rate (3.97 ± 1.35, 95% confidence interval, injuries/1000 h) in professional football players and 5.45 times higher in amateurs (17.56 ± 6.15 vs. 3.22 ± 1.4, 95% confidence interval, injuries/1000 h). Aggregate lower extremity injuries had the highest prevalence in both categories of footballers, being 83.32 ± 4.85% in professional footballers and 80.4 ± 7.04% in amateur footballers: thigh, ankle, and knee injuries predominated. Conclusions (4): Professional and amateur football players are at substantial risk of injury, especially during matches that require the highest level of performance. Injury rates have implications for players, coaches, and sports medicine practitioners. Therefore, information on football injuries can help develop personalized injury risk mitigation strategies that could make football safer for both categories of football players. The current findings have implications for the management, monitoring, and design of training, competition, injury prevention, especially severe injury, and education programs for amateur football players.

BackgroundVolleyball is among the five most popular sports in the world. Regardless of level and age, volleyball athletes perform fast high-impact movements such as jumps, landings, and changes in direction, demanding motor and sensory skills to avoid injuries. The available scientific literature provides information regarding the incidence of injuries in volleyball, but the evidence of injuries in young volleyball athletes (12–18 years old) is not well defined. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted to investigate the incidence and prevalence of injuries in young volleyball players.MethodsThis systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA recommendations and prospectively registered in PROSPERO (ID: CRD42022344623). An electronic search was conducted in the following databases: Web of Science, PubMed, and SportDiscuss via EBSCO in August 2022 and March 2023. Inclusion criteria followed the PICOS acronym: (P) youth volleyball players; (I) volleyball; (C) none; (O) incidence and/or prevalence of injury; and (S) cohort studies. The risk of bias was analysed using the adapted STROBE instrument.ResultsFive studies were included in the qualitative analysis. They had a mean methodological quality of 6 (range 4–8) on the modified STROBE scale. Injury incidence was presented in varying ways, ranging from 1.51 injuries/1000 player hours to 12.4 injuries/10,000 athlete exposures (AEs). The prevalence was 1.6 ± 1.7 per 100 AEs. A total sample of 3698 youth volleyball athletes predominantly females was found. The body sites with the highest rate of injuries were the ankle, the distal portion of the upper limbs (wrist/hand/fingers) and the knee, respectively.ConclusionThere was remarkable variability in the rate of injuries and the form of presentation between the studies. In addition, junior volleyball athletes had lower injury rates compared to other sports practised in high school, and older athletes had higher injury rates.

BackgroundThe purpose of this study is to assess injury patterns in collegiate club quidditch athletes at a single university over three seasons. Injury data were gathered from athletic trainers that provided sideline medical coverage during competitions, the on-site athletic training center where athletes had daily access for evaluation and treatment for acute and chronic injuries, and a sports medicine physician at the on-campus student health center. Athlete exposures were estimated using available previous rosters, practice, and game schedules for the 2014–2017 quidditch seasons. Injuries were evaluated regarding the sex of the athlete, mechanism, body part injuries, and injury type. This is a retrospective descriptive epidemiology study.ResultsThe overall injury incidence rate (IR) for collegiate club quidditch injuries was 4.55 per 1000 athlete exposures (AEs). Male athletes had an IR = 5.22 (95% CI 3.77, 7.23). Females had an IR = 3.77 (95% CI 2.49, 5.72). The most common mechanism of injury in males was collision with another athlete (36%; IR = 1.88; 95% CI 1.09, 3.24). The most common injuries were lower extremity injuries (foot, ankle, lower leg, knee, thigh, hip/groin) at 57%. The most common injury type in males was sprains at 39% (IR = 2.03; 95% CI 1.20, 3.42). The overall incidence rate for all quidditch athletes for concussions was 1.18 per 1000 AEs.ConclusionsQuidditch is an increasingly popular mixed-gender collegiate club sport. This study helps identify areas for improvement in education, injury prevention, and care of athletes at the local and national levels. Concussion rates in quidditch are comparable to other contact sports and should encourage discussion to make rule changes to improve the safety of the sport.

Rock climbing is an increasingly popular indoor sport with a sizable risk of overuse injuries. Yet, many medical practitioners have little familiarity with evaluating and treating climbing injuries because of the terminology, biomechanical demands, mechanisms of injury, and return to sport counseling needed, unique to the sport. This review seeks to educate practitioners on these aspects. Upper extremity injuries occur more frequently than lower extremity injuries, with finger injuries being most prevalent. Pulley injuries, consisting of rupture of the A2 or A4 annular pulleys are the most common type of injury. Other finger injuries include tenosynovitis of the flexor tendons, as well as lumbrical muscle tears. Elbow injuries occur frequently, with medial epicondylopathy being most common. Brachialis injuries are seldom seen outside of climbing. Lower-extremity injuries are typically more acute in nature, including ankle injuries from falls and knee injuries from strenuous climbing moves.

BackgroundOpen-water swimming (OWS) is a popular mass-participation sport in the UK; however, it presents unique safety and medical challenges.ObjectiveTo compare the incidence of illness and injury during OWS events with...

Soccer, the most popular team sport in the world is associated with injuries. Profile of soccer injuries at the 19th Nigerian University Games was studied and the incidence, causes, locations, severity, mode of treatment and effect of play position on injuries were studied. The observational technique was used to obtain relevant data during the competition. Out of a total of 16 matches played and studied, 57 players were injured with 113 incidences of injuries recorded. The results were analyzed using frequency, percentages. The ankle was most frequently injured with 25 (22.12%) cases, while the groin and the foot regions were the least injured body part (1 case, 0.88%). The incidence of injury to the knee joint was 22 (19.47%). The most frequently injured body segment was the lower extremity, while the least injured body segment was the trunk. Minor injuries recorded were 48 (42.48%), while 2 (1.77%) serious injuries were observed. Most of the injuries sustained were due to direct trauma. Physiotherapy treatment included cryotherapy, massage and passive stretching of muscles. Midfielders recorded the highest number of injuries, while the highest number of injuries was recorded among the University of Ibadan soccer players. The Federal University of Technology, (FUTA) players sustained 5 (8.8%) the least injury. In conclusion, the most frequently injured segment of the body and body part was the lower extremity and the ankle respectively. Rules of the game should be modified to reduce the incidence of injuries in these body parts.

BackgroundSailing is an Olympic sport practiced by both men and women of all ages. Despite being a popular sport, we have found no prospective studies investigating the injury incidence and...

We compared workplace injuries between young (16 to 19 years of age) and adult workers using West Virginia Workers' Compensation database. All workers injured between January 1 and December 31, 1995 were included in the analysis. The industry-specific injury incidence rates between young and adults workers were significantly different with lower rates of injury in young workers in all sectors except service sector. In the service sector the young workers had significantly higher injury rates than adults (rate ratios for young workers were 2.28, 1.92, and 2.94 when compared with age groups 20-24, 25-34, and >34, respectively). Estimates of the proportional injury ratio (PIR) indicated significantly greater risk of finger (PIR 1.62) and hand (PIR 1.66) injuries and burns (PIR 3.27) and lacerations (PIR 1.69) in the young workers. The proportion of injuries occurring in the summer months was higher in the young than in the adults (35.2% vs. 27.0%), particularly in the service sector (79.6% vs. 25.9%). Higher injury rates in young workers compared to adults in the service sector may be explained by the seasonal employment of young workers in West Virginia.

Golf is one of the most popular sports in the United States (US) and is played by participants of all ages and skill level. Given the popularity and sport-specific demands on the upper torso, golf poses a considerable risk for upper extremity (UE) injuries. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to (1) determine the incidence rate of UE golf injuries presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in the US, (2) determine the most commonly injured body parts and mechanisms of injury, and (3) compare current injury epidemiology with previous trends in the literature. Male sex, bimodal age extremes (young and elderly), and utilization of golf carts (vs walking) are associated with a higher incidence of golf-related UE injuries. Descriptive epidemiology study. Level 3. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) is a statistically validated injury surveillance system that collects data from ED visits as a representative probability sample of hospitals in the US. We queried the NEISS for the years 2011 to 2020 to examine the following variables for golf-related UE injuries: sociodemographic, diagnosis, body part, and mechanism of injury. From 2011 to 2020, there were a total of 1862 golf-related UE injuries presenting to participating EDs, which correlates to an estimated 70,868 total injuries. Overall, male golf players were disproportionately affected (69.2%) versus female golf players (30.8%) and the most commonly injured age groups were those aged >60 and 10 to 19 years. The most common injuries included fractures (26.8%), strains/sprains (23.4%), and soft tissue injuries (15.9%). The joints injured most frequently were the shoulder (24.8%), wrist (15.6%), and joints in the hand (12.0%). The most common mechanisms of injury were cart accidents (44.63%), falling/tripping (29.22%), and golf club swinging/mechanics (10.37%). Golf-related UE injuries can be acute or due to chronic overuse. Male athletes >60 years of age were the population most commonly presenting to the ED with a golf-related injury. Further, the shoulder, forearm, and wrist were most commonly injured. These findings are consistent with previous epidemiological trends in the literature. Interventions to reduce the incidence of injury should be sport-specific and focus primarily on equipment and golf cart safety and swing modification to optimize the biomechanical function of the UEs. Our findings indicate that golf-related injury prevention programs should target UE injuries, particularly among young (<19) and older (>60 years) golfers with poor swing mechanics.

Road Races have become one of the most popular sport events in Brazil and around the world.It can be said it is a relevant social phenomena due to its expressive growing number of participants during recent years.This study aims to draw a profile of road runners through their training, health, injuries and dietary supplements ingestion.This thesis is divided into three studies: The first study refers to four national road race events.The second and the third to data collected for four consecutive years in "Volta da Unicamp" road race, in Campinas, SP, Brazil.These studies consisted on providing electronic questionnaires in four different years for road runners at the moment they were registering themselves for the race "Volta da Unicamp".Each questionnaire consisted on 28 questions referring to their road race practice, being some of them multiple choice questions and some open questions.Each study took a specific group of questions in consideration.The first study got its data from the following events: "Corrida Integração", Campinas-SP; "Maratona de revezamento Pão de Açucar", São Paulo-SP; "Volta internacional da Pampulha", Belo Horizonte-MG; and "Corrida de São Silvestre", São Paulo-SP.The analysis consisted in an interview targeted to runners chosen randomly, that had the choice to answer or not.The questions were about them road running practice, training characteristics and dietary supplements consumption.The main objective of this study was to gather information on dietary supplements consumption.In total, 817 runners have been interviewed, being 671 men and 146 women, with an average age of 37 years old.28.33% of them reported they used some king of dietary supplement, being the main objective for this consumption the wish for an increase on resistance and a better performance.Respondents who were oriented by physical educational professional had an increase of 4.67 times in the chance of consuming supplement.Supplement consumption has presented a strong correlation with total weekly ran distance (r=0.97) and has also presented a strong correlation with the total weekly ran time (r=0.86).Supplements consumptions have been shown more frequent in runners whose training routine have longer weekly ran distance.On the second study, the use of dietary supplements was verified among road runners on four different years in the same event: "Volta da Unicamp".2106 runners participated of the study, being their average age 36.15 ± 10.94 years.From those runners, 78.33% were men and 21.67% were women.Among all the runners in this study, 21.04% reported using some kind of dietary supplement.The most used supplements were carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins and amino acids.The supplement consumption in the athletes was proportional to the total weekly ran distance (r=0.97) and to the total weekly ran distance (r=0.86).Between the first and the fourth year of "Volta da Unicamp", there was an increase of 8,59% in the consumption of dietary supplements.The study shows an increase in the consumption of supplements by road runners and infers that runners who run longer distances and for a longer time are more likely to eat supplements.The third study's objective was to verify the frequency and the cause of injuries on runners.In total, 2126 runners have participated of the study, being 1485 men and 641 women.A descriptive and inferential analysis was made.Among all interviewed participants, 31.04% reported that already suffered some kind of injury during the training, being 77.88% men and 22.12% women.Of the individuals who have suffered injuries, 50.66% reported having received some guidance from physical education professionals to their training.The runners who have suffered injuries lie amongst the ones with the highest training loads, with more hours of training per week, with greater training volume and with more participation in events per year (p=0).The correlation between total weekly ran distance and injuries incidence was r=0.97, the correlation between total weekly ran time was also r=0.97 and the correlation between the number of racing events per year and injuries incidence was r=0.97.Although it can be presumed that more experienced runners -ones who have started to run a longer time ago and the ones who have a greater training load -are more likely to suffer injuries.However, more studies have to be done in order to understand the influence of the training and intensity on athletes.The studies are complementary and help in the comprehension of road runner's profile.