Injury incidence and injury patterns in qualification runs versus final runs in FIS World Cup snowboard cross and ski cross

Masteroppgave - Norges idrettshøgskole, 2011Background: No previous studies have investigated the injury incidence in individual qualification runs vs. final runs in heats of 4 or more athletes in FIS World Cup (WC) Snowboard Cross (SBX) and Ski Cross (SX). Objective: To investigate the injury incidence and injury patterns in individual qualification runs vs. final runs of SBX and SX during four seasons of the FIS WC. Methods: Injuries were recorded by the FIS Injury Surveillance System (FIS ISS) through retrospective athlete interviews at the end of four WC seasons (2006-2010). Time-loss injuries occurring during qualification runs and final runs of SBX and SX competitions were included. Injury incidence was expressed as the absolute injury rate (number of injuries per 100 athletes per season) and as the relative injury rate (number of injuries per 1000 runs). Results: For SBX the injury incidence in finals was 12.1/1000 runs compared to 6.1/1000 runs in qualifications (RR 1.9, 95% CI 1. 1-3.5, p= 0.019). For SBX males the injury incidence was higher in finals (12.9/1000 runs) compared to qualifications (4.4/1000 runs) (RR 2.9, 95% CI 1.4-6.2, p= 0.0065). This was not the case for SBX females (finals 10.5/1000 runs vs. qualifications 9.3/1000 runs, RR 1.1, 95% CI 0.5-2.8, p= 0.79). For SX the injury incidence in finals was 12.4/1000 runs compared to 9.2/1000 runs in qualifications (RR 1.4, 95% CI 0. 8- 2.3, p=0.27). The injury incidence for SX males was 13.6/1000 runs in finals vs. 8.8/1000 runs in qualifications (RR 1.5, 95% CI 0.8- 3.1, p=0.21). The injury incidence for SX females was 10.8/1000 runs in finals vs. 9.8/1000 runs in qualifications (RR 1.1, 95% CI 0.5-2.6, p= 0.83). The injury incidence per 100 athletes was 14.2 in SBX and 16.3 in SX. There were no differences in injury severity between run types in either discipline. Conclusion: The injury incidence was significantly higher in final runs vs. qualification runs in SBX in total, and for SBX males when analysed for sex. For SBX females and in SX no significant differences between the injury incidence in qualification and final runs were found. Keywords: Snowboard Cross, Ski Cross, FIS World Cup, Snowboarding injuries, Freestyle skiing injuries, FIS Injury surveillance System, Injury incidence, Epidemiology