Prevalence of sports injuries and related causes in male students aged 7 to 15 years old in Yazd, Iran-2022

Abstract

Background: It is essential to have a better understanding of the reasons behind injuries in athletes, particularly adolescent athletes who have unique physical, motor, and psychological traits. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the frequency of sports injuries and their related causes among male student-athletes participating in the 30th male-student sports festival held across the country. Methods: This study was descriptive-cross sectional. The study population included 425 male athlete students (mean age 12.1±7.82, range 7-15 years) with a sports history of 3.3±0.18 years, who were selected randomly from 1927 male athlete students participating in the 30th National Sports Festival for male students (Yazd- September 2022) in the four sports fields of Skipping rope, track and field, swimming, and gymnastics. To collect injury information, the Fuller and colleagues (2006) injury report form was used. Results: The results showed that 54% of athletes in the track and field, 23.30% in Skipping rope, 13.5% in gymnastics, and 9.2% in swimming had a history of sports injury. The severity of injuries in different sports fields was 83.2% mild, 10.5% moderate, and 6.3% severe. The types of injuries were 54% muscular tendon, 3.32% bone joint, and 7.13% skin. The injured body parts were 44.5% lower limbs, 36.3% upper limbs, and 19.2% trunk and spine. 36% of injuries were due to incorrect exercise movements, 30% due to inadequate warm-up, 20% due to insufficient physical preparation, and 14% due to inappropriate environmental conditions. Conclusion: The current results indicate that sports injuries in Iran occur more often due to incorrect exercise movements and inadequate warm-up. This highlights the need for specialized practical training for teachers and coaches.

Keywords

• athlete students
• sports injuries
• sports festival