ORIGINAL ARTICLE  SPORT INJURIES AND REHABILITATION 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2020 March;60(3):422-7

DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.19.10068-0

Copyright © 2019 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Epidemiology of injuries among amateur athletes who attended fitness activities: the role of the qualification of the trainer

Francesco P. BIANCHI ¹, Marco LABBATE ², Marco CASTELLANA ², Pasquale STEFANIZZI ¹, Sara DE NITTO ¹, Angela NOTARNICOLA ³, Silvio TAFURI ¹ ✉

¹ Department of Biomedical Science and Human Oncology, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Bari, Italy; ² Sport University Center, Aldo Moro University of Bari, Bari, Italy; ³ Unit of Orthopedics, Department of Basic Medical Science, Neuroscience and Sensory Organs, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, General Hospital of Bari, University of Bari, Bari, Italy

BACKGROUND: The fitness trainer could have an important role in the prevention of injuries among fitness attendants. In several Countries, including Italy, there is not a formal regulation about the qualification of fitness trainers. The aim of our study is to estimate the incidence of injuries in a sample of amateur fitness athletes training in Apulia (southern Italy) and evaluate if being the presence of a trainer graduated in Sports and Movement Science could be a protective factor for injuries.
METHODS: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional study, carried out in a convenience sample of amateur athletes enrolled in 16 Apulian fitness centers. The survey was carried out by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire distributed and compiled in the gym.
RESULTS: We enrolled 205 amateur athletes, of which 105/205 (51.2%) cared by a trainer graduated in Sports and Movement Science and 100/205 (48.8%) trained by a person with a qualification from Olympic Committee or Sport Federation. The incidence rate of injury ×1000 person-months of training is 6.1 (95%CI=4.4-8.1), 5.5 (95%CI=3.1-9.2) among athletes trained by graduated and 6.3 (95%CI=4.2-9.2) in ones trained by a person with a different qualification (IRR=1.1; 95%CI=0.6-2.3; P=0.348).
CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed a mild lifetime prevalence of injury among subjects attending fitness activities (21%), higher among athletes trained by an instructor not graduated in Sports Science. This is a topic poorly investigated previously but very important in the future, in particular in the view of the diffusion of fitness worldwide.

KEY WORDS: Wounds and injuries; Physical fitness; Athletes