Association between sports type and overuse injuries of extremities in adults: a systematic review

Abstract

BackgroundSports injuries are often described as overuse or traumatic. Little is known about the frequency of overuse injuries and, in particular, if they vary between different types of sporting activities.PurposeTo identify any differences between sports in relation to diagnoses of overuse injuries of the extremities (OIE) and anatomical areas most likely to be injured in adults and to compare these findings with those reported in youngsters, as identified in a previous review.MethodsA search was made in May 2015 and again in April 2016 in PubMed, SportDiscus, PsycInfo, and Web of Sciences. Search terms were « overuse injuries OR cumulative trauma disorders OR musculoskeletal injuries » AND « extremity OR limb » AND « physical activity OR sport OR risk factor OR exercises ». Inclusion criteria were: 1) prospective, or cross-sectional study design; 2) at least 1/3 of the population should be ≥ 19 years; 3) articles must clearly state if reported cases were classified as traumatic or overuse injuries in relation to a particular sports type, 4) sample size >50, and 5) articles must not deal with specific occupational subpopulations nor with clinical populations. A blinded systematic review was conducted and results reported per anatomical site of injury and diagnosis for the different sports.ResultsIn all, 10 of 1435 identified articles were included, studying soccer, beach-volleyball and triathlon. In general, the incidence estimates were low, never above 2.0/1000 h of practice, similar to results seen in children/adolescents. The incidence estimates and the diagnoses of OIE were given only in 4 articles on soccer, making comparisons between sports impossible. As in children/adolescents, the lower limb is more often affected than the upper but contrary to young people the injured site in adults is more often the knee and above, and there were also differences in the diagnoses for the two age groups.ConclusionThe literature does not permit to identify clearly the difference in the incidence of OIE for different sports showing that more but well-designed surveillance studies are needed.

Lesiones deportivas en deportistas universitarios chilenos (Sports injuries in Chilean university athletes)

“…En cuanto a la etiología, las lesiones se podrían separar por tener un origen traumático o por sobrecarga (Chéron, Le Scanff, & Leboeuf-Yde, 2017). Para este estudio, las lesiones por sobrecarga alcanzaron un 51,9% del total de las lesiones, superando solo por un pequeño porcentaje a las lesiones causadas por un origen traumático, las que representan un 48,1%.…”

Definition of the lower extremity overuse: A review

“…This study result supports evidence from previously performed studies. As reported previously by Chéron, absence of traumatic aetiology seems automatically the result in "overuse" because the person with complaint was involved in sporting activity [32].…”

Deceleration Training in Team Sports: Another Potential ‘Vaccine’ for Sports-Related Injury?

“…A possible explanation for this relates to a ‘fatigue failure’ phenomenon discussed by Edwards [ 22 ], whereby the mechanical fatigue of biological tissue is propagated by damage accumulation as a result of repetitive loading and cumulative bouts of activity, which subsequently exceeds the remodelling rate of the tissue. Overuse injuries (e.g., tendinopathies and stress fractures) are defined by the concept of an injury occurring in the absence of a single, identifiable traumatic cause [ 90 ], and often manifest at points in the season of heightened training and game demand [ 31 ]. Here, the interactive effects of loading magnitude, which is dependent upon aspects such as activity type and intensity, and load cycles, may be more dependent upon activity duration, distance and repetition, which can collectively contribute to tissue degeneration over time [ 22 ].…”