Article:
Intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to running-related lower limb injuries among adolescent runners published in Journal of Sport Sciences. DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2022.2163353
Introduction:
Lower extremity injuries are growing increasingly prevalent in adolescent runners. There is current research available that identifies several risk factors for running related injuries such as increased Q-angle, leg-length discrepancies, the female sex, and being of 11-13 years of age. These factors are difficult or impossible to alter and therefore cannot help inform proper injury prevention training guidelines for adolescent runners. These authors endeavored to determine potentially alterable risk factors for running-related injuries in order to better inform training guidelines for this population.
Methods:
The authors conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of data from a hospital-based injury prevention clinic. They identified adolescent runners who reported running related injuries on their evaluation forms and collected data points regarding specific risk factors. The authors looked at demographic variables, sport participation, history of injury, training intensity and frequency, intention to lose weight, BMI, Q-angle, leg length discrepancy, lower extremity range of motion, lower extremity strength, lower extremity muscular endurance, average hours of sleep, total hours of running per week, weight training, and consumption of diet soda drinks.They collected data on 130 adolescents athletes and determined which athletes sustained a lower extremity running-related injury. A statistical analysis was performed to understand if a correlation was present between each individual variable and running-related injuries.
Results:
The results showed an intention to lose weight (p=.01) and the female sex (p=.18) as the highest predictors of running-related injuries in adolescent runners, followed by hip abduction strength (p=.17) and reduced hours of weekday sleep (p=.19).
Discussion:
These results can help to inform injury prevention as three of these four variables are alterable. The authors discuss the prevalence of repetitive stress injuries in adolescent runners and how insufficient diet can contribute to poor recovery. Encouraging young athletes to consume a diet that can sustain their level of activity may be an important step towards injury prevention. Reduced hours of sleep additionally could contribute to poor recovery after exercise and is another alterable factor to help adolescents avoid running-related injuries. Finally, hip abduction strength was an expected risk factor for running-related injuries given the hip musculature’s contribution to proper lower extremity kinematics, stability, and shock absorption. This again, is an easily alterable factor for an injury prevention program.
References:
DeJong Lempke AF, Whitney KE, Collins SE, dHemecourt PA, Meehan WP. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors contributing to running-related lower limb injuries among adolescent runners. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2022;40(22):2468-2474. Accessed August 12, 2024. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=14d4d113-1942-3f62-a0e2-7fc6e8d022a8