Harringe M.L.1,2, Hofsten H.3
1Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm Sports Trauma Research Center, Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Stockholm, Sweden, 2Hela Kroppen Physiotherapy, Stockholm, Sweden, 3Karolinska Institutet, Division of Physiotherapy, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Stockholm, Sweden
Background: Sports injuries and back pain is an increasing problem among young competitive athletes, with a high prevalence of reported back pain in gymnastics. Teamgym is a relatively new discipline within gymnastics originating from Scandinavia. It's a team sport including the events tumbling, trampett and floor program. The sport has become very popular in Europe and is now spreading all over the world.
Purpose: The purpose of this survey was to study the prevalence of injuries with a special focus on back pain in young female teamgym gymnasts aged 10-16 years of age.
Methods: A quantitative study design with a questionnaire was chosen. All youth top level female teamgym teams including female gymnasts at the age of 10-16 years, in the area of Stockholm, were asked to participate in the study. Fifteen out of 17 teams agreed to participate, and a total of 256 of 270 gymnasts (95%) completed the questionnaire. A physical therapist (RPT) visited all the teams and handed out a questionnaire to be filled out. The gymnasts were able to ask the RPT if they didnt understand any of the questions.
Results: One hundred and fifty-five of the 256 gymnasts (61%) reported that they had suffered from back pain some time in life. Eighty-seven gymnasts (33%) reported back pain at the day of the survey. The gymnasts who reported back pain were older (p =0.007) and had higher BMI (p =0.001) than those who didnt report back pain. One hundred and fifty four gymnasts (60%) reported injuries to other body parts, and 53 of those gymnasts (21%) suffered injuries to both the back and another body part. Injury to the lower extremity was most common and accounted for 47 % of the injuries. Twenty-two percent of the gymnasts who reported back pain at the time for the survey had changed something in their training because of back pain, 77% reported that they didnt take any action to reduce the symptoms.
Conclusion(s): Back pain and injury to the lower extremity is common in young female teamgym gymnasts. A large proportion of the gymnasts trained despite back pain.
Implications: To our knowledge, the present survey is the first to study injuries in a young teamgym population. The results are highly important and shed a light on the necessity of finding ways to prevent injuries. Further research to increase the understanding of injuries in young teamgym gymnasts is required.
Funding acknowledgements: Funding was received from the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science
Topic: Sport & sports injuries
Ethics approval: The present study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board, Stockholm, Sweden (2009/1414-31/3).
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
