Study finds preseason fitness does not impact risk of injury

The prediction of time to injury is influenced most heavily by gender and the sport played rather than an athlete’s level of preseason fitness, according to researchers at the University of Alberta.

The study into varsity athletics, published in Sports Medicine, Arthroscopy, Rehabilitation, Therapy & Technology, found that women had a shorter time to injury than men — and that certain sports also had a significantly shorter time to injury than other sports. The researchers looked at 86 male and female varsity athletes who competed in basketball, volleyball and ice hockey, with main outcome measures for the study being injury prevalence, time to injury and preseason fitness measures as predictors of time to injury.

“Fitness measures were Apley’s range of motion, push-up, curl-ups, vertical jump, modified Illinois agility and sit-and-reach,” Michael D. Kennedy and his co-authors wrote.

According to a University of Alberta press release, more than two-thirds of the athletes in the study sustained injuries throughout the season, most common among them muscle or tendon strains in the legs or feet. Although players missed practice time due to their injuries, with 55% missing at least one practice, most did not miss any games. Forty percent of injuries, the authors noted, occurred during preseason practice.

“The only association we found between preseason fitness and injury was that lower upper body strength, as evaluated by push-ups, was associated with a shorter time to injury,” Kennedy stated in the release. “This was despite most of the injuries being associated with the lower body.”

Time to first injury was shorter for women than men, with women experiencing first injury an average of 40% of the way through the season (66% for men). Time to first injury also depended on sport, with volleyball injuries occurring sooner than any other sport tested. Volleyball injuries in women occurred on average less than 20% of the way through the season (35% for men). Men’s hockey was the safest sport tested, with first injuries typically occurring around three quarters of the way through the season.

“Our data clearly show that time to first injury for athletes is more heavily influenced by gender and sport than pre-season fitness,” Kennedy stated.

Reference:

Kennedy MD, Fischer R, Fairbanks K, et al. Can preseason fitness measures predict time to injury in varsity athletes?: A retrospective case control study. Sports Med Arthrosc Rehabil Ther Technol. 2012. doi: 10.1186/1758-2555-4-26