Characteristics of Mountainboard (ATB / MTB) riders and the type of injury during the competition

Background. Mountainboard (ATB / MTB) is an extreme sports discipline derived from snow­boarding. In Poland, the first mountainboard shows took place on the slope in Ustroń Poniwiec in September 2002. The main places related to the development of mountainboarding are Kraków, Warsaw, Bielsko-Biała, Korbielów. One of the problems of practicing this sport are injuries that may contribute to the exclusion of a competitor from the starting season in the summer-autumn period. The aim of the study was to analyze the characteristics of MTB riders and to assess the most common injuries and the causes of their occurrence among mountainboard riders. Material and methods. 54 competitors aged 18-45 (mean age 32 years, SD 7.88) practicing mountain slabs took part in the study. A survey subscription was used – an author’s questionnaire, concerning the characteristics of the athlete and the most commonly occuring injuries. The technical assistance was based on the chi-square test, p = 0.05 as the level of significance. Results. The results on the competitor characteristics showed that the most common injuries in ATB among slalom competitors were bruises, while among freestyle, bordercross and downhill competitors were tears in the muscles of the upper and lower limbs. The relationship between the athlete’s body weight and the type of injury was also noted. Conclusions. The MTB discipline is a developing extreme sport among various age groups, it requires research into the prevention and reduction of sports injuries.