‘What does not kill us can make us stronger’: can we use injury experience as an opportunity to help athletes and their teams engage in injury risk reduction?

Édouard, Pascal; Bolling, Caroline; Chapon, Joris; Verhagen, Evert

doi:10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001359

Cited by 10 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…These quantitative results support results from qualitative studies and hypotheses about the potential impact of injury experience to make athletes adhere to an injury risk reduction approach 10–12. We agree with Edouard et al ’s suggestions that the negative experience of injury should be considered as a lesson and could be used to help athletes and their teams engage in an injury risk reduction approach towards long-term sustainable sport practice 12. However, a prospective study should confirm these results, as our present study design cannot allow us to conclude causality.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…Ruffault et al also reported that athletes who experienced an injury were more likely to adopt exercise-based injury risk reduction programmes than those who did not 19. These quantitative results support results from qualitative studies and hypotheses about the potential impact of injury experience to make athletes adhere to an injury risk reduction approach 10–12. We agree with Edouard et al ’s suggestions that the negative experience of injury should be considered as a lesson and could be used to help athletes and their teams engage in an injury risk reduction approach towards long-term sustainable sport practice 12.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

“…In addition, qualitative studies reported a learning process regarding the injury risk reduction approach throughout the athlete’s career and that injury experiences are important in this 10 11. It has also been hypothesised that the injury experience could be an opportunity to engage athletes and their entourage in an injury risk reduction approach 12. To support this hypothesis, it would be interesting to explore through a quantitative approach whether the perception regarding injury risk reduction differs between athletes who have already experienced an injury and those who have not.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Athletes who have already experienced an injury are more prone to adhere to an injury risk reduction approach than those who do not: an online survey of 7870 French athletics (track and field) athletes

Edouard,

Sorg,

Martin

et al. 2024

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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ObjectiveTo compare the perception towards injury risk reduction approach between athletes who have already experienced an injury and those who have not.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study using a one-time online survey asking athletics athletes licensed at the French Federation of Athletics (http://www.athle.fr) about their perceptions regarding injuries and injury risk reduction behaviours. We statistically compared athletes who already experienced an injury and those who did not.ResultsA total of 7870 athletes were included. 90% of athletes declared having experienced at least one injury. They (1) were proportionally more men than women, (2) had significantly more years of experience in athletics, (3) had a significant difference in disciplines (more hurdles, jumps and combined events and fewer sprint athletes), (4) had a significant difference in competition levels (more national and less departmental levels) and (5) reported significantly higher values or agreements in favour of injury risk reduction approach, compared with uninjured athletes. There were significantly more athletes declaring following injury risk reduction programmes among athletes who experienced at least one injury than those who did not.ConclusionsAthletes who experienced at least one injury during their lifetime were more prone to adhere to injury risk reduction strategies than athletes who have never experienced an injury. Their entourage (coaches and health professionals) should use this fertile ground to implement injury risk reduction strategies. In addition, their experience should be disseminated to uninjured athletes to help them adhere to injury risk reduction without injury experience.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 80%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Athletes who have already experienced an injury are more prone to adhere to an injury risk reduction approach than those who do not: an online survey of 7870 French athletics (track and field) athletes

Edouard,

Sorg,

Martin

et al. 2024

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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“…Therefore, these results could support a call to improve the management of the very first injuries, based on the available evidence, for example, muscle injuries,30 ankle sprains,31 tendinopathies,32 or bone stress injuries 33. Better education for the athlete and their team (eg, coach, family) about their injuries could also help limit career cessation due to an injury 34–36…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Understanding the first injury in athletics and its effect on dropout from sport: an online survey on 544 high-level youth and junior athletics (track and field) athletes

Edouard,

Mosser,

Chapon

et al. 2024

BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med

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ObjectiveTo describe the first injury and to investigate whether it plays a role in altering athletics’ sustainable practice.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study using an exploratory survey on the first injury and its consequences on athletics practice. In 2021, we asked all high-level athletes licensed with the French Federation of Athletics (FFA) under 18 years, under 20 years and under 23 years categories between 2007 and 2021.ResultsOut of 6560 emails sent by FFA, 544 athletes responded, and 93.6% (n=510) reported experiencing at least one injury during their career. The first injury occurred at a mean age of 17.5±3.3 years after 6.1±4.1 years of athletics practice. The main locations of the first injury were the posterior thigh (28.9%), the ankle (16.5%) and the knee (12.6%), and the principal reported injury types were muscle (37.7%), tendon (17.5%) and ligament (15.5%). More than a third of injured athletes (36.7%) reported experiencing ongoing symptoms or sequelae after their first injury, and about half (48.5%) experienced recurrences. About 20% had stopped athletics at the time of the survey, with injury problems the primary cause of athletes dropping out (46.2%), including the first injury (9.4%).ConclusionsInjuries played an important role in altering sustainable athletics practice, with injury accounting for about 50% of all reported dropouts and the first injury accounting for about 10% of all reported causes. Our results provide evidence to target the prevention of the first injury, which could be considered the origin of the ‘vicious circle’ of injuries.

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“…Thus, appropriate management of the first HMI is fundamental. In addition, education of athletes and their teams regarding secondary prevention (i.e., reduction of the re-injury risk) could be also a relevant part of this management [ 26 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hamstring Muscle Injuries and Hamstring Specific Training in Elite Athletics (Track and Field) Athletes

Édouard

Pollock

Guex

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Objective: We aimed to describe hamstring muscle injury (HMI) history and hamstring specific training (HST) in elite athletes. A secondary aim was to analyse the potential factors associated with in-championships HMI. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study to collect data before and during the 2018 European Athletics Championships. Injury and illness complaints during the month before the championship, HMI history during the entire career and the 2017–18 season, HST (strengthening, stretching, core stability, sprinting), and in-championship HMI were recorded. We calculated proportions of athletes with HMI history, we compared HST according to sex and disciplines with Chi2 tests or ANOVA, and analysed factors associated with in-championship HMI using simple model logistic regression. Results: Among the 357 included athletes, 48% reported at least one HMI during their career and 24% during the 2017–18 season. Of this latter group, 30.6% reported reduced or no participation in athletics’ training or competition at the start of the championship due to the hamstring injury. For HST, higher volumes of hamstring stretching and sprinting were reported for disciplines requiring higher running velocities (i.e., sprints, hurdles, jumps, combined events and middle distances). Five in-championship HMIs were recorded. The simple model analysis showed a lower risk of sustaining an in-championships HMI for athletes who performed more core (lumbo-pelvic) stability training (OR = 0.49 (95% CI: 0.25 to 0.89), p = 0.021). Conclusions: Our present study reports that HMI is a characteristic of the athletics athletes’ career, especially in disciplines involving sprinting. In these disciplines, athletes were performing higher volumes of hamstring stretching and sprinting than in other disciplines. Further studies should be conducted to better understand if and how HST are protective approaches for HMI in order to improve HMI risk reduction strategies.

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‘What does not kill us can make us stronger’: can we use injury experience as an opportunity to help athletes and their teams engage in injury risk reduction?

Cited by 10 publications

References 9 publications

Athletes who have already experienced an injury are more prone to adhere to an injury risk reduction approach than those who do not: an online survey of 7870 French athletics (track and field) athletes

Athletes who have already experienced an injury are more prone to adhere to an injury risk reduction approach than those who do not: an online survey of 7870 French athletics (track and field) athletes

Understanding the first injury in athletics and its effect on dropout from sport: an online survey on 544 high-level youth and junior athletics (track and field) athletes

Hamstring Muscle Injuries and Hamstring Specific Training in Elite Athletics (Track and Field) Athletes

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