Olympic Games

Abstract

Problem/Intro: Epidemiological data of injuries and illnesses in equestrian athletes are limited. The objective of this study was to describe the incidence, prevalence, and severity of health problems among a cohort of elite riders.Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study with 38 elite equestrian athletes over a two-year follow-up period. Health problems were recorded weekly with the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center Questionnaire on health problems and subsequently categorized into illnesses and injuries according to the recently published International Olympic Committee guidelines. Based on the athletes weekly responses, we calculated health problem prevalence, incidence and severity.Results: A total of 93 health problems were reported including 30 illnesses and 63 injuries resulting in a weekly prevalence of 12.1% (95% CI: 10.5-13.7) for all health problems. For acute injuries, the chest, lumbosacral region, and neck were the most commonly reported body locations. The lumbosacral region was the most commonly reported repetitive injury mechanism body region. Illnesses most often affected the upper respiratory and gastrointestinal body systems.Conclusion: There was a low prevalence of injuries among this cohort of elite athletes. Future efforts that further improve athlete safety should focus on repetitive mechanism injuries and implementation and scale-up of preventive equipment to the broader equestrian population.Key Words: Epidemiology, Acute Injury, Repetitive Injury, Injury Mechanism