Background and Aim
Britain has competed in Freestyle Wrestling since it first featured in the Olympic Games in 1904 and the Commonwealth Games in 1930. Despite Britain’s long history with the sport, there are currently no studies that have aimed to quantify injury incidence and prevalence. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the injury incidence and prevalence in a sample of wrestlers based in Britain.
Methods
A self-reported, cross-sectional study design was used. All participants were registered British Wrestling Association Club members and had at least 12 months of prior wrestling experience. Data was collected via a questionnaire offered to participants in both online and paper format at the English Wrestling Championships 2022 and via coaches from each British wrestling club. Injury incidence was calculated by estimating injuries /1000 athletic exposures (AE). Injury site, type, mechanism and severity were measured. One variable chi-square tests (X2) were used to calculate if observed values were significantly different from expected values.
Results
One hundred and forty-six (n=146) wrestlers (30.1 ± 8.6 years, 85.4 ± 15.6 kg, 176.6 ±10.37cm) completed the injury survey. Over 12 months, the participants sustained one hundred and ninety-five (n= 195) injuries, equating to an average of 1.3 ± 1.2 per participant. The overall incidence rate was 3.40/1000 AE (95% CI 3.16 to 3.6). The
competition injury incidence of 42.01/1000 AE (95% CI 26.97 to 57.05) and 2.92/1000 AE (95% CI 2.69 to 3.14) for wrestling training activities. The knee was the most common injury site, accounting for 26.1% of all injuries, whilst strains or sprains occurred most often (36.3%). Takedowns were the leading mechanism of injury (36.4%), and most injuries were categorised as slight (28.7%).
Conclusions
This is the first study to estimate the prevalence, severity, and mechanism of injury in Wrestlers based in Britain. Data is comparable to previous studies in American high school and college wrestlers. Future studies should consider a medically reported method to confirm these results further.
Practical Implications
The reported data from this study allows for the development of injury risk reduction strategies by region and injury type.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)