Identification of Risk Factors for Injury in Women's Collegiate Gymnastics With the Gymnastics Functional Measurement Tool

Abstract

Background: The Gymnastics Functional Measurement Tool (GFMT) is a series of 10 sport-specific tests that evaluates the physical fitness of female gymnasts. The standardized scoring system has been validated in a wide range of competitive levels. To date, there is no screening tool to identify risk factors for injury in female gymnasts. Objective: To determine if the total score on the GFMTor the individual test components can identify female collegiate gymnasts who are at risk of developing an injury. Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Collegiate gymnastics training and competition facilities. Participants: One hundred female gymnasts from seven National Collegiate Athletic Association, Division I teams. Interventions: Gymnasts were tested with the GFMT (vertical jump, hanging leg lifts, agility sprint, 20-meter sprint, pull-ups, pushups, rope climb, handstand hold, lower extremity flexibility, and shoulder flexibility). Each team's certified athletic trainer recorded injuries over the course of one season. Logistic regression modeling was used to assess the relationship between each individual test and the development of upper extremity, lower extremity, or trunk injuries. Main Outcome Measurements: Gymnastics-related injuries. Results: A total of 160 injuries from 100 gymnasts were included in the analysis. No tests were significantly associated with developing of upper or lower extremity injuries. A higher score on the vertical jump test was associated with fewer trunk injuries (odds ratio [OR] 0.69, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.52-0.91; P = .01). This relationship existed even after adjusting for gymnast characteristics in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: A one-unit increase in vertical jump score was associated with a 30% decrease in trunk injuries in collegiate-level female gymnasts. Future research to identify risk factors for gymnastics-related injury and methods for prevention are needed. Level of Evidence: II.

Screening Tools as a Predictor of Injury in Gymnastics: Systematic Literature Review

“…Grip strength of gymnasts was measured by [4,25]; however, different data analysis procedures were used, only one study normalised the scores by body weight [4], and hence again, pooling was not possible. Finally, vertical jump [1,4,29] and quadriceps angle (Q angle) data [2,24] were considered for meta-analysis; however, inconsistency in protocols and data presentation prevented pooling of the data.…”

“…The databases were the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED), CINAHL, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), MEDLINE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, SPORTDiscus and PEDro (the Physiotherapy Evidence Base). A combination of the following search terms was used: (1) Gymnastics AND injury AND Screening, (2) Screening AND Gymnastics and (3) Musculoskeletal AND Screening AND Gymnastics. These terms were searched in all text, abstract, title and subject terms.…”

“…Two studies included artistic gymnasts [21,22], 2 studies included rhythmic gymnasts [23,24], 11 studies simply used the term "gymnasts" [1,2,4,9,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. With regard to the level of gymnasts, 6 studies included gymnasts classified as national team level [9,21,22,[29][30][31], 2 studies involved gymnasts from clubs affiliated with a national federation [1,23], 1 study involved gymnasts from a precompetitive level [25], 3 studies used competitive-level gymnasts [4,26,28], 2 studies used a mixed group of gymnasts [2,27] and 1 study included gymnasts attending a course and the level was unclear [24].…”

“…Gymnastics requires a high level of physical ability and technical skill [1] which utilises short sets of athleticism and artistry to perform complex and intense movements. These athletic characteristics include strength, speed, power, agility, cardiovascular endurance, flexibility, coordination and balance.…”

Utility of Kinetic and Kinematic Jumping and Landing Variables as Predictors of Injury Risk: A Systematic Review

“…Visnes et al [84] reported a two-fold increase in risk of developing patellar tendonitis with each 1 cm increase in jump height above the asymptomatic group (OR = 2.09; 95% CI 1.03-4.25). All other studies investigating the relationship between countermovement jump height and risk of hamstring/groin strain [4], ankle sprain [5,77], all knee injuries [57], or lower extremity injury in general [25,29,31,48,55,70,82] failed to find a significant association (Fig. 5).…”