Bone stress injuries in athletics (track and field) championships: findings from a prospective injury surveillance conducted across 24 international championships with 29,147 registered athletes.

Abstract

Background: Athletics (track and field) athletes are prone to develop bone stress injuries (BSIs) but epidemiological data on BSIs from top-level sports events are scarce.

Objective: To describe the incidence and characteristics of BSIs during 24 international athletics championships held from 2007 to 2023.

Methods: BSI-related data were prospectively collected during 24 international athletics championships, including the Olympic Games (n = 3), World Outdoor Championships (n = 4), European Outdoor Championships (n = 6), World Indoor Championships (n = 3) and European Indoor Championships (n = 8). Descriptive and comparative statistics were used to assess the epidemiological characteristics of BSIs.

Results: BSIs accounted for 1.5% of all reported injuries (n = 36; 1.2 per 1000 registered athletes (95%CI 0.8 to 1.6)). No significant difference of BSI incidence was detected between female (2.0 per 1000 athletes (95%CI: 0.9 to 2.3)) and male athletes (0.9 per 1000 athletes (95%CI: 0.4 to 1.4)) (relative risk (RR) = 1.73, 95%CI: 0.88 to 3.40). BSI incidence was significantly higher during outdoor championships (1.6 per 1000 registered athletes (95%CI: 1.0 to 2.1)) as compared to indoor championships (0.2 per 1000 registered athletes (95%CI: 0.0 to 0.5)) (RR = 10.4, 95%CI: 1.43 to 76.0). Most BSIs were sustained in the foot (n = 50%) or leg (n = 33%). BSIs were reported in athletes participating in endurance disciplines (52.8%) or in explosive disciplines (47.2%).

Conclusions: BSIs represent a small portion of injuries sustained during international athletics championships. Collective results suggest that injury rates are higher in outdoor competitions as compared to indoor competitions. The most common injury locations comprise the foot and leg.

Clinical trial number: Not applicable.