Athletic injury prevention: Epidemiology of injuries during the French Elite championships.

OBJECTIVE: The epidemiology of injuries is the first step in the sports injuries prevention. In this context, the IAAF and EA have implemented a prospective injury follow-up during their international athletics championships since 2007, and the FFA initiated since the French championships in 2014. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence and characteristics of injuries during the French Elite championships.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: During the period of the outdoor and indoor French Elite championships, all newly occurring injuries were recorded by the local medical team.

RESULTS: During the outdoor French Elite championships (2014 and 2015), an incidence of 40 to 60 injuries per 1000 registered athletes has been reported. The main diagnoses were: muscle injury hamstring and leg cramps. The injuries occurred mainly in combined events disciplines (20-50%), hurdles (37%), sprint (23-29%) and jumps (19%). It is also interesting to note that 50 athletes (9%) contested the championships and mentioned already present injury (occurred the previous day, weeks or months before the championships and/or recurrent during the championships). At the indoor French Elite championships (2014 and 2015), an incidence of 45-48 injuries per 1000 registered athletes has been reported. The main diagnosis was muscle hamstring injury, followed by knee injuries and ankle sprains. The injuries occurred primarily in jumps (29%), combined events (24%), sprint (17-24%) and hurdles (18%).

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: It is emphasized that this is the first epidemiological data during the French Elite Athletics championships. This information is fundamental to understanding the risk of injury among Elite athletes at the French national level to develop well-adapted prevention measures to their own problems. The injury is multifactorial, its prevention requires the consideration and management of several parameters such as physical fitness, technical mastery of gesture, lifestyle, psychological aspects, a good course of treatment, equipment and sporting rules.