Prevalence of Injuries in Brazilian Recreational Street Runners: Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Street running is an accessible, low-cost form of exercise. However, the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries may hinder regular practice. This study aimed at estimating the prevalence of injuries in Brazilian street runners and the associated factors. A meta-analysis of Brazilian studies was performed to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of injuries in male and female recreational street runners aged ≥18 years. We excluded systematic review studies, research conducted on professional athletes or triathletes, and duplicate articles. The following databases were used: SciELO, LILACS, PubMed, Web of Science, and Google Scholar. Keywords such as “prevalence,” “injury,” “recreational street runners,” and “Brazil” were used. Prevalence analysis was performed using the random effect model, and a funnel plot was used to assess publication bias. Then the Begg-Mazumdar and Egger tests were applied to quantify the graph results. The Prevalence Critical Appraisal Instrument was used to evaluate the methodological quality of the studies. Associated factors were analyzed with meta-regression analysis. Twenty-three studies with 3,786 runners were included in the review. The prevalence of injury was 36.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] 30.8-42.5%), and a running distance per week greater than 20 km was a predictive variable of injuries. A higher prevalence of injuries was observed in men than in women (28.3%, 95% CI 22.5-35.0%), the knee was the most affected site of injury (32.9%, 95% CI 26.7-39.6%), and muscle injuries were the most frequent type of injury (27.9%, 95% CI 18.2-40.1%). This is the first national meta-analysis conducted to investigate the prevalence of injuries in recreational street runners. Although the prevalence of injuries was moderate, caution is required in terms of the weekly duration of running. Male runners are more susceptible, and muscle and knee injuries are the most common. Level of evidence II, Systematic reviewb of Level II Studies.

Epidemiology and etiology of lower limb injuries in Iranian recreational runners

“…The prevalence of RRIs over the previous six months was 54%, fitting with previous studies on RRIs in recreational runners reporting a 36.5%-79.3% prevalence [5,15,24,25]. The period over which injuries are reported and injury definition may affect injury incidence.…”

Prevalence and incidence of low back pain among runners: a systematic review

“…Currently a definition of RRIs is not yet fully share, this is reflected in the difficulty of analyzing the studies about of RRIs [18]. RRIs primarily affect joints of the lower limb and lumbar spine [18,25,26,99], causing painful muscles, tendons and joints, also resulting in LBP [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26], but despite several studies about the prevalence and incidence of LBP in sports are retrievable [35][36][37][38][39][40], it seems that this topic has not been clearly investigated in the runners. Therefore, the aetiology, the prevalence and the incidence of LBP, likewise the RRI, have been reviewed.…”

“…The prevalence rate of RRIs among middle and long-distance runners has been reported to range between 19 and 92% [2,[16][17][18][19][20]. However, the discrepancies among studies limit the comparison of data due to the divergences in the type of runners analyzed, follow-up provided, study design, etiology and definition of RRIs [1,2,[14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. In 2015, Yamato et al [20] defined the RRIs as musculoskeletal pain or physical complaint of the lower limbs or of the back/trunk due to running, causing a total restriction or interruption of running for at least seven or more days and requiring therapeutic assistance [20].…”

“…Currently a definition of RRIs is not yet fully share [20], this is reflected in the difficulty of analyzing the studies about of RRIs [18]. RRIs therefore primarily affect joints of the lower limb, pelvis and lumbar spine [18,25,26], causing painful muscles, tendons and joints, often resulting in low back pain (LBP) [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. It is frequent in clinical practice [27][28][29][30][31][32][33], that patients contact physical therapists for consultancy on LBP which represents a common complaint of athletes [27][28][29][30][31][32][33].…”

Análise do perfil epidemiológico dos praticantes de corrida de rua em Belém-PA / Analysis of the epidemiological profile of stretchers in Belém-PA

“…Também vale destacar a importância do assunto no momento atual, visto que o número de praticantes de corrida de rua está aumentando progressivamente ao longo dos anos, aumentando, não só a necessidade de um exame médico capacitado, mas também de pesquisas visando um melhor entendimento do assunto 10 .…”