Factors associated with triathlon-related overuse injuries.

Abstract

Descriptive correlational investigation. To assess the incidence of, and potential risk factors associated with, overuse injury in triathlon. The sport of triathlon is rapidly increasing in popularity with a concomitant rise in the prevalence of injuries sustained by triathletes. The training and injury patterns of 131 triathletes were surveyed over a 10-week prospective period during the triathlon competition season. A complementary retrospective 6-month analysis of training history and prior overuse injuries was conducted. Fifty percent of triathletes sustained an injury in the 6-month preseason at an injury exposure rate of 2.5 per 1000 training hours. Thirty-seven percent were injured during the 10-week competition season at an injury exposure rate of 4.6 per 1000 training hours. Overuse accounted for 68% of preseason and 78% of competition season injuries reported. Increased years of triathlon experience, high running mileage, history of previous injury, and inadequate warming-up and cooling-down regimes appeared to have individual associations with injury incidence. When interactions were included in a multiple logistic regression model, increasing years of triathlon experience was the most significant predictor of preseason injury risk and a previous history of injury and high preseason running mileage increased the risk of injury during the competition season. The results indicate that in assessing triathletes, a full training and competition history is required by the sports clinician for a comprehensive assessment of the factors that may contribute to overuse injury.