Abstract
Objective: The aim in this study was to quantify the number, nature, and severity of injuries sustained by male and female high school students who took part in a running training program that culminated in the completion of a half or full marathon. Design: This study is a retrospective clinical audit. Methods: Injury reports from high school students (grades 9 – 12) who participated in a half or full marathon 30-week progressive training program comprising four training days per week (three running days and one cross-training day) were reviewed. The number of runners completing a marathon, together with the number, nature, severity of injuries, and treatment types, as reported to the program physiotherapist, were the main outcome measures. Results: Program completion was 96% (n = 448/469). Of all participants, 186 (39.6 %) were injured, with 14 withdrawing from the program due to injury. For those who completed a marathon, 172 (38 %) reported 205 musculoskeletal injuries (age of injured runners: 16.3 ± 1.1 years; 88 girls (51.2 %) and 84 boys (48.8 %)). More than half (n = 113, 55.1 %) of the reported injuries were soft tissue injuries. Most injuries were localized to the lower leg (n = 88, 42.9 %) and were of a minor nature (n = 181, 90 %), requiring only 1–2 treatments. Conclusions: There was a low number of relatively minor injuries for high school participants taking part in a graduated and supervised marathon training program. The injury definition was conservative (i.e., any attendance to physiotherapist) and the relative severity of injuries was minor (i.e., requiring 1 – 2 treatment sessions). Overall, these results do not support a need to restrict high school students from taking part in marathon running, though continued emphasis on graduated program development and close supervision of young participants is recommended.
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
3-1-2023
Volume
20
Issue
5
PubMed ID
36901436
Publication Title
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
Publisher
MDPI
School
School of Medical and Health Sciences / Nutrition and Health Innovation Research Institute
RAS ID
54623
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Comments
Kennedy, M. A., Fortington, L. V., Penney, M., Hart, N. H., d’Hemecourt, P. A., & Sugimoto, D. (2023). Running marathons in high school: A 5-year review of injury in a structured training program. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(5), Article 4426. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054426