The epidemiology of injuries in adult amateur rowers: A cross-sectional study

Finlay, Christina, Dobbin, Nick and Jones, Gareth (2019) The epidemiology of injuries in adult amateur rowers: A cross-sectional study. Physical Therapy in Sport, 41. pp. 29-33. ISSN 1466-853X

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Abstract

Objectives To investigate the prevalence, nature and factors associated with injury among adult amateur rowers. Design Retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting UK-based amateur rowing clubs. Participants 160 amateur rowers. Main outcome measures Frequency, type, location, severity and rowing-related factors associated with injury. Results Injury rate was 5.7 per 1000 sessions, with no effect of sex (χ2 = 0.195, P = 0.659) or weight class (χ2 = 0.800, P = 0.371). The lower-back demonstrated an epidemiological incidence proportion (IP) of 0.39 (95%CI = 0.33 to 0.46). The IP for water- and land-based training was 0.39 (95%CI = 0.31 to 0.47) and 0.57 (95%CI = 0.49 to 0.65), respectively. IP was highest between January and March (0.13–0.15), whilst time loss was 0.49 (95%CI = 0.42–0.57). The IP for ‘overuse’ and ‘traumatic’ injuries was 0.71 (95%CI = 0.65 to 0.78) and 0.22 (95%CI = 0.16 to 0.27), respectively. Training volume was positively associated with injury rate (r = 0.418, P < 0.001). Conclusions Injury rates appear higher among amateur rowers with the most common injury site being the lower-back. Our results suggest several contextual factors influence injury risk including seasonal phase, training type and training volume.