Relationship of Physical Factors to the Occurrence of Injuries in Young Gymnasts.
Yuria Kobayashi, Yasuharu Nagano, Makoto Suzukawa
PMID 39371190WHAT IT FOUND
In young gymnasts, boys' wrist injury was linked to reduced shoulder internal rotation, and lower back injury to reduced hip, shoulder, and wrist motion.
Girls' heel and knee injuries showed mixed motion differences, and a back muscle stiffness test did not track low back injury.
Key findings
01The average overall injury incidence was 65.9%, with males 70.0% and females 61.7%, and lower back, wrist, and heel were the most common injury locations overall.
02For males, wrist injury was linked to significantly less shoulder internal rotation on both sides, and lower back injury was linked to significantly less left hip flexion, right hip extension, bilateral shoulder external rotation, and bilateral active and passive wrist palmar flexion; multifidus stiffness did not differ, and foot injury showed no physical differences.
03For females, heel injury was linked to significantly higher left straight leg raise and lower left combined abduction test; knee injury was linked to significantly lower left hip flexion, lower left wrist passive dorsiflexion, higher left shoulder flexion, and lower right iliopsoas test; lower back injury was linked to significantly higher right Thomas test but no multifidus difference.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 36 gymnasts from one club were studied. The 23-week survey did not cover the entire competitive season. The analysis focused only on the top three injury locations for each sex. The authors say it is difficult to identify physical factors influencing injury from range of motion, tightness, and muscle elasticity alone. They did not use regression analysis to consider muscle strength, age, individual factors, or left-right differences. Some findings were side-specific, and the authors say future work should examine gymnast-specific left-right demands.
Declared interests
The authors report no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the range-of-motion differences as proof that tightness caused injuries or that stretching will prevent them. The study followed one club's gymnasts for 23 weeks and did not account for muscle strength, age, individual factors, or left-right differences.