[Injury pattern and overuse stress syndrome in young sport climbers]

The rapidly growing interest in sports climbing in recent years among young climbers raises the question about the risk of injuries and overstrain syndromes in this group. This paper investigates injuries and overstrain syndromes of 99 adolescent climbers aged between 8 and 19 years. The authors interviewed climbers from Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Besides the type and pattern of injuries and overstrain syndromes, the level and duration of climbing, intensity of training and gender were recorded as potential risk factors. 47 climbers were asked about setting up fingers on small holds, which is considered a main reason for epiphyseal injuries of fingers in the literature. Injuries and overstrain syndromes, as well as their frequency and pattern are reported and classified. Descriptive data analysis and statistical models are used to assess the influence of risk factors. Among the potential risk factors only the climbing level has a significant influence on the risk of injuries and overstrain syndromes (p = 0.0427). Furthermore the risk of injuries and overstrain syndromes in the area of the fingers is significantly higher for climbers who reported setting up fingers on small holds (OR = 8.24, p = 0.0022). Finally we found a higher frequency of injuries and overstrain syndromes in lower extremities (43% of all injury and overstrain occurrences) and a lower frequency of injuries and overstrain syndromes in general (43% of all the climbers under investigation) compared to other studies. As a result special guidelines for training and competition are given. In order to increase the accuracy of the reports and to investigate long-term effects we recommend a study with clinical assessment and a longer period of observation.