The causes of injuries sustained at fitness facilities presenting to Victorian emergency departments - identifying the main culprits

Abstract

BackgroundFitness facilities provide an avenue to engage in physical activity, which is widely encouraged to improve health. However, there is risk of injury. This study aimed to identify the specific causes of injuries sustained at fitness facilities and the activity being participated in, to aid in the development of injury prevention strategies.MethodsAnalysis of routinely collected emergency department case-series data were obtained from July 1999 to June 2013. Fitness activity-related injury cases were identified from narratives of injury events, with narrative information recoded into cause of injury and activity at time of injury categories. Recoded data were then analysed.ResultsOverall, 2,873 cases were identified that specified the exact cause of injury associated with injuries that occurred at fitness facilities. Injuries due to overexertion were most common overall (36.2% of all cases), as well as the main cause of injuries related to general free weight activities (52.6% of this activity) and group exercise classes (35.9%). Crush injuries due to falling weights were common for all free weight activities. Falls and awkward landings were common causes of injuries during group exercise classes (28.5% and 25.8%, respectively). Trips and falls were common throughout facilities, as well as from cardiovascular equipment more specifically.ConclusionsDetailed information on the causes of injuries allows the development of injury prevention strategies for fitness facilities and fitness activities. Facilities should implement risk management strategies to reduce the risk of injuries in their clientele, based on the identified major causes of injury in this study.

Assessing the completeness of coded and narrative data from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset using injuries sustained during fitness activities as a case study

“…Whilst all cases either occurred at a fitness facility or during an activity most commonly performed at fitness facilities, some injury variables were coded to irrelevant places, activities or causes. Future studies could investigate the degree of miscoding in ED data, assuming the narrative is to be trusted over the coded data [ 6 , 7 ]. To assess the degree of miscoding in the data fully, each individual case would need to be reviewed with the patient to determine the full circumstances of the injury, and comparisons with recorded data can be made.…”

“…The cases represented by the VEMD are likely to vastly underestimate the number of injuries sustained during fitness activities, as a number of injured persons would seek treatment from their general practitioner, allied health professionals, or not at all [ 6 , 7 ]. Therefore, even if it had 100 % reliability, this dataset would not be appropriate as a sole surveillance system for fitness activity related injuries, as it does not record all injuries sustained.…”

“…As injuries sustained during fitness activities at fitness facilities were used as the case study, targeted text searching of the narrative was first performed to identify relevant cases. These cases were extracted by VISU and provided to the authors as a data subset as previously reported elsewhere [ 7 ]. Examples of fitness-related keywords used to select these cases included: treadmill, elliptical trainer, rowing machine, aerobics, weight training, barbell and dumbbell [ 6 ].…”

“…In Victoria, Australia, there is currently no universal surveillance system to monitor injuries that occur to people who participate in fitness activities [ 6 , 7 ]. The only known public source of injuries sustained during fitness activities is the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD), which is a record of all injury presentations to emergency departments at participating hospitals [ 6 , 7 ]. Its purpose is to provide necessary epidemiological, health service planning, policy assessment and formulation, clinical research, and quality improvement information to the state government which funds hospital care in Victoria [ 8 ].…”

Weightlifting Shoulder Injuries Presenting to U.S. Emergency Departments: 2000–2030

“…Group fitness classes have also grown in popularity among older individuals, and may incorporate resistance training [17]. With less individual supervision and instruction by trainers, participants may be at increased risk for injury since fewer opportunities are afforded for correcting improper form [29,30]. This serves as another plausible explanation as to why the average age of weightlifting-associated shoulder injuries continues to rise, though the cause for this phenomenon are likely multifactorial.…”