MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES IN MASTERS GAMES ATHLETES: A SCOPING REVIEW

M. Brown^1,2, P. Reaburn², M. Constantinou¹, W. Hing²

¹Australian Catholic University, School of Allied Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Brisbane, Australia, ²Bond University, Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine, Gold Coast, Australia

Background: Masters Games events provide older athletes with an opportunity to participate in organised physical activity which in turn has well documented physical and psychosocial health benefits. Sports related injuries can limit participation in these events. Specifically targeted injury prevention programs can reduce rates of musculoskeletal injuries that could otherwise compromise participation. According to the van Mechelen sequence of prevention injury prevention model the first step is to establish the extent of the injury problem. However, little is known about injury epidemiology in Masters athletes.

Purpose: To determine current knowledge in the literature about the incidence and types of musculoskeletal injuries sustained by older athletes participating at Masters Games events.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews checklist. Seven electronic databases (CINAHL, Cochrane, Embase, Medline, Scopus, SportDiscus and Web of Science) were searched using pre-determined search terms for studies reporting injuries during Masters Games events, from their inception to 30 August 2022. Studies were screened for eligibility using the Population (older athletes), Concept (sustained an injury) and Context (during Masters Games events) framework. Results from included studies were extracted and summarised in a pre-determined table.

Results: Of 1882 records initially identified, seven met the inclusion criteria. Three from seven studies reported injury data collected by event medical services during the actual event. The remaining four studies utilised self-reported questionnaires; one study collected information about injuries sustained during the event and three studies collected information about previous or current injuries. Four studies reported on single sport events and the remaining three studies reported on multi-sport events but did not differentiate injury rates by sport. Three studies reported rates of participants or respondents sustaining an injury with varying injury incidence rates of 2.5%, 8.2% and 48.2%. Five studies reported actual injury numbers with a total of 2,384 injuries occurring in 34,129 participants, and an overall injury rate of 6.99%. Three studies reported both the location and type of injury, while four studies reported injury location only.

Conclusions: There is little published injury epidemiological data for Masters Games participants. Study methodological heterogeneity and variable injury reporting methods precludes meaningful comparisons about injury epidemiology in older athletes. There is a need for well conducted injury surveillance studies at Masters Games events to guide the management of medical services for these events and to inform the development of age and sports specific injury prevention programs.

Implications: The results of this scoping review highlight that injury surveillance data from Masters Games events is needed to identify the extent of the injury problem in this population. Injury surveillance data is also needed to inform the development of targeted sports injury prevention programs for older athletes, and to assist sports event organisers planning medical services for Masters Games events.

Funding acknowledgements: No funding was received for this study.

Keywords:
Sports injuries
Healthy ageing
Injury epidemiology

Topics:
Sport & sports injuries
Health promotion & wellbeing/healthy ageing/physical activity
Musculoskeletal

Did this work require ethics approval? No

Reason: Ethics not required for a Scoping Review.