Musculoskeletal complaints in college sports: associated factors and immediate physiotherapy outcomes.

Abstract

To describe the profile of sports-related musculoskeletal complaints treated by physiotherapy during a multi-sport university competition, identify associated factors (training load, strengthening frequency, and previous complaint history), and evaluate the immediate effect of physiotherapy interventions on pain. gThis cross-sectional descriptive epidemiological study analyzed physiotherapy records from a University Games (2022-2025), involving 5100 student-athletes. All athletes who sought physiotherapy for a musculoskeletal complaint during the events were included. A standardized assessment form recorded demographics, sport modality, training characteristics, strengthening frequency, previous complaints in the same region, anatomical location, mechanism, physiotherapy interventions, and pain intensity (Numeric Pain Rating Scale, NPRS) before and after treatment. Incidence rates were calculated as physiotherapy-treated complaints per 1000 athlete exposure hours. A total of 1803 physiotherapy treatment encounters were registered. Most complaints involved the lower limbs (64.7%) and were classified as traumatic (50.3%) or atraumatic/overuse (25.0%). Five team sports - futsal, 7-a-side soccer, volleyball, handball, and basketball - accounted for 93.6% of sport-specific cases. The overall incidence of physiotherapy-treated complaints was 29.62 per 1000 athlete exposure hours. Baseline pain showed no significant difference between encounters with and without a previous complaint in the same region (<i>p</i> = 0.060), was weakly correlated with weekly sport-training hours (ρ = 0.101, <i>p</i> = 0.014), and was not associated with strengthening frequency (ρ = 0.038, <i>p</i> = 0.192). In 1020 encounters with pre- and post-treatment data, a mean reduction of -2.69 NPRS points was observed (<i>p</i> < 0.001; Cohen's d = 1.58). Musculoskeletal complaints during multi-sport university competitions predominantly affect the lower limbs and are mainly traumatic in nature, particularly in high-intensity team sports. Immediate, on-site physiotherapy provides substantial pain relief, underscoring its role in acute athlete care and as a foundation for targeted injury prevention strategies.