The epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries in trail runners in the eThekwini Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract

AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the point and period prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries, the injury profile, associated risk factors and the impact of musculoskeletal injuries on trail runners who participated in selected trail races in the eThekwini municipality of KwaZulu-Natal. SUBJECTS: Participants from various trail running races volunteered to participate in the study after the completion of a trail race. METHODOLOGY: Participants were approached individually following the completion of a minimum of a 10 kilometre trail race. Each participant read a letter of information and signed an informed consent form before completing the questionnaire. A total of 197 completed informed consent and post-pilot questionnaires were collected and placed in separate sealed ballot boxes. A code was allocated to each questionnaire before data was captured on a spreadsheet for statistical analysis. RESULTS: In total, 145 questionnaires were statistically analysed. The results revealed that only ethnicity and how often the participant's trail ran per month were significant predictors of developing an injury. White participants were five times more likely to be injured compared to African participants and those who ran more than 10 times a month were 4.65 times more likely to be injured than those who ran less than five times a month. The most common past injuries sustained by trail runners was shown to be predominantly due to trauma, and were located in the knee, ankles and ITB regions. Current injuries were shown to be equally due to trauma and overuse, with predominant location being in the same anatomical regions as past injuries. CONCLUSION: The majority of the data collected was in line with the literature on running; however, most of those studies were done on road runners. The findings of this study were unique to trail runners in KwaZulu-Natal. Further studies are required on trail runners in other regions of South Africa to determine a clearer injury profile.