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Sports and exercise medicine
Research
Leisure-time sport and overuse injuries of extremities in children age 6–13, a 2.5 years prospective cohort study: the CHAMPS-study DK
  1. Charlène Chéron1,2,
  2. Charlotte Leboeuf-Yde1,2,3,
  3. Christine Le Scanff2,
  4. Eva Jespersen4,5,
  5. Christina Trifonov Rexen5,
  6. Claudia Franz3,5,
  7. Niels Wedderkopp5,6
  1. 1Institut Franco-Européen de Chiropraxie, 72 Chemin de la Flambère, Toulouse, France
  2. 2CIAMS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Université Paris-Saclay, Orsay Cedex, France
  3. 3Spine Center of Southern Denmark, Institute of Regional Health Services Research, University of Southern Denmark, Hospital Lillebaelt, Middelfart, Denmark
  4. 4Department of Rehabilitation, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
  5. 5Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, Center for Research in Childhood Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
  6. 6Orthopaedic Department, Sport Medicine Clinic, Hospital of Lillebaelt—Middelfart, Institute of Regional Health Services Research, Middelfart, Denmark
  1. Correspondence to Charlène Chéron; cheron.charlene{at}ifecetud.net

Abstract

Objectives It is not known which sports are most likely to cause overuse injuries of the extremities in children. In this study, we report on the incidence of overuse injuries of the upper and lower extremities in children who participate in various leisure-time sports and relate this to the frequency of sport sessions.

Design Natural experiment including a prospective cohort study.

Setting 10 state schools in 1 Danish municipality: Svendborg.

Participants 1270 children aged 6–13 years participating in the Childhood Health, Activity, and Motor Performance School Study Denmark.

Outcomes measures Over 2.5 years, parents answered weekly SMS-track messages (a) on type and frequency of leisure-time sports undertaken by their child, and (b) reporting if their child had experienced any musculoskeletal pain. Children with reported pain were examined by a clinician and diagnosed as having an overuse injury of an extremity or not. The incidence of diagnosed overuse injury was calculated for each of the 9 most common sports in relation to 5-week periods. Incidence by frequency of sessions was calculated, and multivariable analysis was performed taking into account age, sex and frequency of physical education classes at school.

Results Incidence of overuse injuries of the lower extremity ranged from 0.2 to 3.3 for the 9 sports, but was near 0 for overuse injuries of the upper extremities. There was no obvious dose–response. The multivariate analysis showed soccer and handball to be the sports most likely to result in an overuse injury.

Conclusions Among a general population of schoolchildren, overuse injuries of the lower extremities were not common and overuse injuries of the upper extremities were rare. Organised leisure-time sport, as practised in Denmark, can be considered a safe activity for children.

  • EPIDEMIOLOGY
  • children
  • adolescent
  • overuse injuries
  • extremities
  • sport type

This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt and build upon this work, for commercial use, provided the original work is properly cited. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-012606

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors NW was responsible for the overall study concept and design. EJ, CTR, CF and NW were responsible for the acquisition of the data. CC and NW were responsible for the analysis and interpretation of data. CC, CL-Y and CLS drafted the manuscript. All authors took part in a critical revision of the manuscript.

    • Funding This study was supported by grants from the IMK Foundation, the Nordea Foundation, the TRYG Foundation—all private, non-profit organisations, which support research in health prevention and treatment, and TEAM Denmark, the elite sport organisation in Denmark, that provided the grant for the SMS-track system.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval The study was approved by the Ethics Committee for the region of Southern Denmark (ID S20080047).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Data are available on request from the CHAMPS Study Steering Committee due to legal and ethical restrictions. Interested parties may contact Professor Niels Wedderkopp (nwedderkopp@health.sdu.dk), and the following information will be required at the time of application: a description of how the data will be used, securely managed, and permanently deleted.