Epidemiology of weightlifting injuries in the pediatric population: 20-year assessment of nationwide emergency department visit data.

Background: Weight-lifting among the pediatric population has surged during the last two decades motivated by the new evidence-based positive health effects. The increasing popularity of this activity has increased the number of emergency department (ED) presentations. Therefore, we sought to analyze the epidemiology of weightlifting-associated upper (UE) and lower extremity (LE) injuries in the pediatric population.

Methods: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) was queried for the years 2003 to 2022. All UE and LE injuries presenting to the ED directly stemming from weightlifting activity were selected after careful narrative inclusion and exclusion.

Results: Weight-lifting injuries increased significantly from 2003 to 2022 in UE from 3527 to 5540 and in LE from 750 to 1853; there was a prominent dip during the COVID-19 pandemic years, from 4126 to 3479, and from 1789 to 1625, respectively (P<0.001). Numbers also increased in sports centers from 0.6% of injuries to 3.7% in UE and from 0.4% to 3.2% in LE (P<0.001), while decreasing in schools from 2.6% to 1.5% in UE and from 2.2% to 0.6% in LE (P<0.001). The majority of the pediatric population sustaining weight-lifting injuries were males, 85.1% in UE, and 77.5% in LE. Strains and sprains were the most common injuries, representing 46.4% of UE injuries and 40.6% in LE. The knee was the most commonly injured body part in LE accounting for 38% of total injuries and the shoulder in UE accounting for 33.4% of total injuries.

Conclusions: Our study found that UE and LE weight-lifting injuries among children and adolescents have increased in the past two decades. Injuries increased mostly in unsupervised settings like sports centers while decreasing in regulated milieus. They predominantly affected males and involved sprains, strains, and knee or shoulder injuries. This underlines the need for more research establishing guidelines for weight-lifting activities for children.