Summary

Musculoskeletal injuries are frequent among runners during their training for a half marathon and during the race. Most injuries are around the knee. The incidence of injuries during this race was 21%.

Abstract

Introduction

The recent promotion of healthy life models and the subsequent increase of athletes and recreational runners, relates with the proportional increase of injuries associated with exercise in the ambulatory clinic. Injuries can develop during the training period or during competition. Surveillance studies have been used previosuly to calculate incidence of injuries in competitions such as the FIFA world cup or in multi-sport events like the Olympic Games. This studies help to understand which are the most common injuries and to promote the development of prevention strategies. There are risk factors that have been associated such as previous injuries. The aim of this study is to calculate the incidence of running injuries in the 2016 half marathon held in Cali, Colombia, and to evaluate the association with possible risk factors.

Methods

This is a cross-sectional study that included a random sample of runners from the 2016 Cali half marathon. The day before the competition runners were selected, filled up a questionnaire and underwent physical musculoskeletal assessment by an orthopaedic surgeon. Active injuries before the race were not included in the analysis for the calculation of the incidence of injuries. The stretching status of quadriceps, hamstrings, gastrocsoleus and iliotibial band was measured. Body Mass Index (BMI) was calculated. At the end of competition, beyond the finish line, runners were assessed again to evaluate if there were new injuries. The finish time of each runner was registered. If a runner did not attend for the follow-up assessment, they were called by telephone the day after to ask about possible injuries and they were scheduled to be assessed in the following 5-day period.

Results

205 of the 2200 registered runners were included in the study (9.3%). Most of them were men (71%) with a mean age of 38±10 years. The median BMI was 23, most runners (78%) had run at least one half marathon prior to this one and they had an average of 7 years running. 77% of runners ensured stretching before or after exercise, however 64% showed insufficient stretching of hamstrings and 39% had a moderate to severe gastrocsoleus retraction. There were no statistically significant differences between those runners who stretched and those who did not (p=0.528). The incidence of new injuries during the half marathon was 19.5% (n=40). Patellofemoral pain (26 %) and iliotibial band syndrome (24%) were the main injuries found in runners. The race was finished by 95% of the sample, with a 77.1% (n=158) immediate follow-up obtained the day of the race, which increased to 98.5% (n=202) in the following 5-days. Runners who spend more than two hours to complete the race had more injuries than faster runners, 38.5% vs 19.1% (p=0.046). Having an injury during the last six-months did not increased the risk of new injuries.

Conclusion

Musculoskeletal injuries in runners are frequent during a half marathon race. Finishing the race in less than 2 hours showed to be protective against injuries compared to running at a slower pace.