Analysis of the Prevalence of Injuries and Associated Factors in Brazilian Climbers

Abstract

Introduction Many Brazilians became climbing enthusiasts in the 20th century, and the activity was recently included as an Olympic sport at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. With the increase in the number of climbers seeking to beat personal and/or competitive records, the number of injuries has also increased. Objectives To verify the prevalence of injuries in Brazilian climbers, as well as their association with sociodemographic characteristics and sport performance. Methods A cross-sectional, descriptive and analytic observational study was conducted from March 2018 to May 2018 with the application of a virtual questionnaire for 266 Brazilian climbers. The statistical analysis was performed subsequently. Results The prevalence of injuries in Brazilian climbers was 71.8%. The main characteristics of the injuries that merited special attention were musculotendinous site (50.8%), sport climbing (22.0%), upper limb (50.3%) and mechanism of abrupt movement (20.4%). The most popular treatment was medical in combination with physiotherapy (34.5%), and time off was generally more than 30 days (50.3%). There was a significant association (p <0.05) of the injuries with age, gender, region of the country, BMI, level of education and involvement in other sports, as well as athletic and recreational category, climbing time, basic course certificate, warming up, monthly rock climbing and weekly indoor climbing frequency, and the climbing grade. Conclusion Due to the increase in the popularity of the sport and the high prevalence of climbers with a history of injuries, multiprofessional follow-up is needed to procure risk reduction programs and to enhance climbers’ awareness of the factors associated with these injuries. Level of Evidence III; Study of nonconsecutive patients, without consistently applied ‘’gold’’ reference standard.