Injury patterns among national-level athletes in Lebanon: a retrospective study

ABSTRACT

Objectives

This study aims to assess the annual prevalence, associated factors, and characteristics of musculoskeletal disorders among Lebanese national-level athletes.

Methods

Lebanese athletes aged 18 and over and who competed in a top-level national championship during an entire athletics season were invited to participate in the study. Data were collected through questionnaire assessing self-reported injury during the past year. Injury, dependent variable of the study, was defined as a musculoskeletal condition that made the athlete partially or completely abstains from training or competition for a 1-week minimum injury period.

Results

Among the 250 eligible athletes, 210 (84.0%) (25.5±6.7 years) completed the questionnaire. The 1-year retrospective injury prevalence was 51.9% (95% confidence interval, 45.1%-58.7%). Injured athletes reported 150 injuries: 128 (85.3%) affected the lower extremities, and 111 (74.0%) occurred during training. The most common type was muscle cramps/spasm (n=53; 35.3%); and overuse (n=121; 80.7%) was the predominant cause. Athletes who mainly practiced endurance disciplines (-p-value=0.042), who participated in international athletics championships (-p-value=0.047), and who were taking chronic medications (-p-value=0.049) had more injuries in the past year.

Conclusion

These findings may help inform potential injury prevention programs, which should target injuries affecting the lower extremities, and consider the factors associated with injury risk among Lebanese athletes.

KEYWORDS:

• Musculoskeletal injuries
• injury patterns
• athletics
• sports medicine

Acknowledgments

The Medical Research Council of the Saint Joseph University of Beirut supported this work (grant number: FM295). We would like to thank Doctor Nazek SAADALLAH for her suggestions, comments, and insights. We would also like to thank the athletes who participated in this study.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Authors’ contributions

LEO, AEH, NEO contributed with conception and design

AEO, HAH contributed with acquisition of data

NEO, LEO contributed with analysis and interpretation of data

LEO, AEH involved in drafting the manuscript

NEO, LEO revised critically the manuscript for important intellectual content

All authors read and approved the final manuscript

Ethical approval and consent to participate

The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Saint Joseph University of Beirut. All participants gave informed consent to the work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the The Medical Research Council of the Saint Joseph University of Beirut [grant number: FM295].