Prevalence of injuries and training correlates in Brazilian young rhythmic gymnastics athletes

Abstract

Purpose Rhythmic gymnastics is a popular sport with great acceptance throughout the world. However, the combination of repetitive movements of extreme flexibility and stress/tension on the musculoskeletal system during intense training are potential risk factors for injuries. The objective of the study was to collect retrospective data on the prevalence of self-reported injuries in Brazilian young rhythmic gymnastics athletes. In the sequence, correlates equivalent to the training history for injuries were identified. Methods The study included 236 girls aged 9 to 17 years from 23 teams registered in the São Paulo State Federation of Rhythmic Gymnastics practicing rhythmic gymnastics for at least two years. A questionnaire with structured questions was applied to collect data on training history and injuries occurred in the last 12 months. Results The prevalence of self-reported injuries was 62.3% [95% CI: 57.9–67.0]. The most exposed body region was the lower extremities, predominantly tendinitis and sprains, with a higher incidence during training. Sport experience and volume/weekly training were identified as independent predictors of injuries. Young athletes who trained/competed 9 years presented twice as high chances of being injured (OR = 1.94 [95% CI: 1.52-3.36]) and training ≥ 26 hours/week almost tripled the chances of the gymnasts presenting some type of injury (OR = 2.91 [95% CI: 2.23–4.74]). Conclusions Significant inverse associations between injury incidence and training history correlates reinforce the need for implementing different targeted injury-risk mitigation strategies in young rhythmic gymnastics athletes.

Keywords

• overuse injuries
• epidemiology
• risk factors
• training
• youth sports
• brazil