How is Calf Muscle Endurance Related to Ankle Injuries in TeamGym Athletes?

The specific aims of this study are to:

• describe how many heel raises and side hops TG athletes of various ages can perform and how far they can jump, one leg at a time.
• examine how calf muscle endurance and hop performance are related to the risk of new injuries in the foot, ankle, and lower leg in TG athletes.

The investigators hypothesise that atletes with superior performance in the tests for muscular endurance and hop performance will report fewer injuries during the follow up period.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Ankle Injuries; Overuse Injury; Ankle Sprains; Foot Injury

Detailed Description

TeamGym (TG) is the most common gymnastics discipline in Sweden. There is a relatively high injury incidence of 2,2-3,4 injuries per 1000 hours of gymnastic activity. Muscular fatigue has been proposed as a risk factor for sustaining an injury in gymnastics, but this has yet not been examined.

In TG, the lower extremity is more susceptible to injuries than the spine and upper extremity, with injury rates ranging between 60 - 77% for the lower extremity. More specifically, the foot, ankle, and the lower leg account for 40 - 56% of all reported injuries, consisting mostly of ankle injuries.

In clinical and research settings, heel raises and side hops are commonly used to assess muscular endurance in the lower leg. Furthermore, it is common to also include a hop performance test to assess the physical capacity of an athlete following an injury to the foot, ankle, or lower leg. However, there are normative values published of the aforementioned tests, in TG athletes

The overall purpose of this project is to facilitate and improve the caretaking of TG athletes who have sustained various types of injuries in the foot, ankle and lower leg.

Specific aims are to:

• describe how many heel raises and side hops TG athletes of various ages can perform and how far they can jump, one leg at a time.
• examine how calf muscle endurance and hop performance are related to the risk of new injuries in the foot, ankle, and lower leg in TG athletes.

The investigatorshypothesise that atletes with superior performance in the tests for muscular endurance and hop performance will report fewer injuries during the follow up period.

About 200 athletes who regulary participate in TeamGym training (at least once per week) and understand written and spoken Swedish will be included in this study.

Athletes with a recent injury to the foot, ankle, or lower leg or the presence of with other injuries to the lower limb or spine that may be accentuated or affect test results will be excluded.

Data regarding numbers of new injuries (acute and overuse injuries) in the foot, ankle and/or lower leg within six months after baseline testing aswell as severity score of the overuse injuries will be measured bi-weekly with the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center (OSTRC) questionnaire.

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 107

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Susanne Beischer, PhD; Phone Number: +46709941983; Email: susanne.beischer@gu.se
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Farshad Ashnai, BSc; Phone Number: +46760393402; Email: farshad.ashnai@gmail.com

Study Locations

• Sweden
  • Gothenburg, Sweden
    • Göteborg University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 13 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

TeamGym athletes (members of the Swedish Gymnastics Federation) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Regular participation in TeamGym training (at least once per week)
• Understanding written and spoken Swedish

Exclusion Criteria:

• Recent (defined as: in the last 4 weeks before baseline testing) injury to the foot, ankle, or lower leg = exclusion from hop tests.
• Presence of other injuries to the lower limb or spine that may be accentuated or affect test results.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
New injury	Number of new acute/overuse injuries in the foot, ankle or lower leg.	Within six months after baseline testing.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Severity of overuse injury	Answers from 4 questions regarding severity are scored from 0 to 25, and summed to calculate a severity score between 0 (= no problems) and 100 (= maximum level of problems).	Bi-weekly follow-ups over a 6 month period.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Susanne Beischer
• Collaborators: Umeå University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 30, 2022
• Primary Completion (Actual): September 16, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): October 12, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 5, 2022
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 5, 2022
• First Posted (Actual): April 12, 2022

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimated): February 28, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: February 27, 2024
• Last Verified: February 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Muscular Endurance; Muscular Fatigue; Gymnastics; TeamGym
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Leg Injuries; Sprains and Strains; Wounds and Injuries; Ankle Injuries; Cumulative Trauma Disorders; Foot Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: Projektfot1

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO
• IPD Plan Description: One of the purposes of the project is describing normative data regarding muscular endurance and hop performance in TeamGym athletes and the results will therefore be published. Thus, there will be no need to make IPD available for other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No