Sports injuries in physical education teacher education students

Introduction: Sports injuries are highly disadvantageous for Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students, since they can lead to physical discomfort and absence from sports classes. The purpose of this study is to investigate the magnitude of the injury problem in PETE students and to explore risk factors for sustaining an injury. Methods: During the first 2 semesters of the study year, 278 Dutch freshmen PETE students filled in the OSTRC Overuse Injury Questionnaire on a weekly basis to monitor injuries and illnesses. Furthermore, after each semester of 10 weeks all students were asked to retrospectively report all time-loss injuries. Results: During the 5 months follow-up period students reported on average 414 min of intracurricular and 276 min extracurricular sporting time. A total of 2071 online questionnaires were filled in by 258 students. In 76% of the cases no (problems by) injuries, illnesses or health problems were reported. In the other 479 questionnaires students reported one or more consequences on sporting participation or performance because of all types of problems. The reported injuries, illnesses or health problems led to difficulties during sports (23%), reduced sports activity (21%) and reduced sports performance (24%). Also symptoms/health complaints were experienced (15%). The average weekly severity score of all reported problems was 32 (on a 0–100 scale). Students with a history of mild injury (>8 days) had a greater change of suffering a new injury during their study than those without injury history in the past year (p = 0.04). Also students with an injury at the start of the study year were more prone to a new injury in comparison with non-injured students (p = 0.01). None of the other factors were identified as significant risk factors for sustaining an injury. In total, 197 time-loss injuries were reported by 144 students. Injury time loss ranged from 1 to 44 days, with a median of 6 days, for students who already recovered from their injury (n = 38). Most injuries were acute (56%) and occurred during intracurricular activities (62%). The most commonly injured body parts were: lower leg (anterior) (19%), knee (16%), ankle (14%) and shoulder (13%). Injuries occurred during gymnastics (21%), athletics and soccer (both 16%). Discussion: The risk of sustaining an injury or becoming ill is high for freshmen PETE students. Injury history (an injury in the previous year as well as being injured at the start of the study year) is the most important risk factor