Injury Incidence in Adolescent Rowers Within England: A Prospective Study

Abstract

Contemporary research analysing injury incidence in junior rowers is lacking, and what has been published has focused solely on performance-level athletes. The purpose of this study was to investigate injury incidence in junior rowers from grassroot clubs and school rowing programmes across England. The study also explored if injury rates were influenced by gender, training, or geographical region. Finally, the results of the report would offer suggestion if socioeconomic status might be associated with injuries in junior rowers. The study adopted a positivist, prospective approach examining mainly quantitative injury data from a
cohort of 1530 rowers aged 12-18 years (803 females and 727 males) across 34 rowing clubs, covering all regions. Coaches completed an anonymous injury questionnaire to record injuries in junior rowers over a six-month period. The
following variables were compared; gender, age, height, weight, hours trained, injury site, attainment, classification, injury reoccurrence, and severity. 56.7% of
females reported injuries, in comparison to 41.7% of males. Out of 727 males, 3.3% reported an injury to their coach, and from 803 females, 3.8% recorded injuries. Injuries were most common in junior rowers aged 16 compared to younger age groups. There were no notable differences between hours engaging in exercise training, but injury rates were lower as years of experience increased, as most reports were from rowers who had been training for 1-2 years, followed by those training 3-4 years. 88% of injuries were sustained in the training environment as opposed to during competition. Muscle and tendon-related overuse injuries were the most common injuries, with the most reported site being the trunk
(38.3 ± 14.3). Finally, the highest injury rates were reported from clubs located in the top 40% of the most deprived neighbourhoods in England. These findings have
relevance to athlete injury prevention strategies and impending future research into the factors associated with injury prevalence, both physiological and sociological.
Moreover, additional research into junior injury incidence in rowers has the capacity to support the findings of this study and promote suitable interventions to reduce the occurrences of injuries in rowing, supporting long-term continuity of the sport.