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Medicina dello Sport 2019 December;72(4):562-77

DOI: 10.23736/S0025-7826.19.03543-9

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English, Italian

Epidemiology of musculoskeletal injuries in windsurfer’s athletes: study in a World Championship

Beatriz MINGHELLI ^{1, 2} ✉, Joana P. MATOS ¹, João S. GUERREIRO ¹

¹ School of Health Jean Piaget Algarve, Piaget Institute, Lisbon, Portugal; ² Research in Education and Community Intervention (RECI), Piaget Institute, Lisbon, Portugal

BACKGROUND: Windsurf has gained more practitioners in the world and due to these specific movements, the fact of being dependent on environmental conditions and material used leads to the practitioners, subject to injuries. This study aimed to determine injury epidemiology and risk factors for injury in windsurfer athletes.
METHODS: Sample included 58 athletes who competed in the Portimão Windsurfing World Championships, held in Portugal, aged 14 to 71, being 54 (93.1%) males, 27 (46.6%) athletes competed in Raceboard and 31 (53.4%) in Windsurfing Formula. The measurement instrument was a questionnaire concerning the biological characterization of the population and aspects related to the modality and injuries.
RESULTS: Forty-one (70.7%) athletes reported having suffered some type of injury since the beginning of their practice, 16 (27.6%) said they were injured at the moment, 18 (31%) in a 6-month period and 24 (41.4%) in a 12-month period. There were 3.91 injuries per 1,000 hours of windsurfing training. The most common injuries were tendinopathy (42%), joint injury (cartilage, meniscus, ligament injury/ sprain, luxation) (15.8%) and muscle injury (strain, contusion) (13%) located in shoulders (23.7%), foot and fingers (15.8%), elbows (13%) and lumbar spine (13%). The most frequent injuries mechanisms were to perform a maneuver (26%), impact of the board (21%) and foot traction (11%).
CONCLUSIONS: Windsurf is a sport that causes higher musculoskeletal injuries, mainly in the shoulders, being tendinopathy the most frequent type of injuries, caused by performing a maneuver. It´s necessary to create injury prevention strategies, including specific training and accompaniment of athletes by a sports team.

KEY WORDS: Wounds and injuries; Epidemiology; Sports