The injury patterns in pole sports athletes in Gauteng

Abstract: Purpose: To determine the types of injuries occurring in pole sports athletes in Gauteng. In addition, this study aimed to identify potential risk factors that may have predisposed certain athletes to developing musculoskeletal injuries. Risk factors such as: age, weight, skill level, frequency of training and the duration of training were investigated. Method: A questionnaire-based quantitative study was conducted in order to establish the injury patterns occurring in 100 pole sports athletes in Gauteng. A pilot study was used to test the questionnaires before commencing the data collection. Participants were recruited at their pole sports studios after permission was granted by the studio owners. The information letters, consent forms and questionnaires were distributed and completed in hard copy format. The questionnaires were completed anonymously and the participants were free to withdraw from the study at any time before they handed in their completed questionnaire. Once the data collection was completed, a statistician was consulted in order to assist with the data analysis. Results: The majority of the study participants (58%) sustained an injury as a direct result of participating in pole sports. The greatest proportion of the injuries sustained were muscle strains (58%) followed by ligament sprains (29%). The most commonly injured region of the body was the upper limb (41,6%). The risk factors identified that predisposed participants to sustaining a musculoskeletal injury were: skill level, duration of training per day and frequency of training per week. Additionally, the number of years of participation also presented as a risk factor in this study. Conclusion: Injury occurrence was prevalent in this study population, with the upper limb being the most commonly injured body region. The injury patterns were not in accordance with a similar study conducted internationally; however, the setting for these two studies was vastly different which could therefore explain the differences noted between the data collected by each study.M.Tech. (Chiropractic