Musculoskeletal Injuries, Sports Performance, Sports Specialization, and Quality of Life in Young Athletes

Incidence and Relationshipis of Musculoskeletal Injuries, Sports Performance, Sports Specialization, and Quality of Life in Young Athletes. Project: "Science of Healthy Sport"

The primary aim of this observational cohort study is to assess sports specialization, sports performance, history of injuries (prevalence, types, areas, duration) and quality of life in young healthy athletes aged 8-16 from Poland. Athlete profiles will be created based on the variables (explained in detailed description) examined. Furthermore, the investigators will perform one-year injury follow-up.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Do athletes with a specific profile (lower values in athletic performance tests, low values in quality of life) evaluated at one time point, suffer injury in the future in annual observation?
• Do athletes with high sports specialization will sustain injury in one-year follow-up?
• Does sports specialization have a relationship with sports performance tests, and quality of life?
• Does sport specialisation, training volume, geographical factor relate to injury history?
• Does sports specialisation, injury history differ between sports (individual and team sports)?
• Does value of the specific muscle (lower limb) isometric strength will be associated with the dynamic balance scores in young healthy athletes?

Study Overview

• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Conditions: Quality of Life; Healthy; Injury;Sports; Sport Injury

Detailed Description

Recruited young healthy athletes (8-16 years-old) from sports schools, clubs, teams will invited to study. There will be performed assessment, which included:

• participant characteristics (age, biological age, gender, height, weight, body mass index, sports experience, training workload, sports specialization, history of injuries)
• sports performance (value of dynamic balance, isometric strength of lower limbs, functional movement patterns)
• quality of life and health assessment (EQ-5D-Y)
• geographical factor (Rural, Urban)
• Sports (Individual, Team)
• History of Injuries (Localization, Type)

One-year after meetings, there will be send questionaire and phone-call to participants and their coaches/parents in order to obtain information about injuries (location, type, time-loss, etc.).

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 373

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Poland
  • Gdańsk, Poland, 80-211
    • Department of Immunobiology and Environment Microbiology, Medical University of Gdańsk

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Child
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Young healthy athletes (8-16 years-old) from sports schools, clubs, teams from the territory of the Pomeranian voivodeship, Poland.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy (without injury, pain, or symptoms)
• Participation in sports activities (minimum 6 months)
• Age of 8 to 16 years-old
• Agreement to participation from parent/guardian

Exclusion Criteria:

• pain or other symptoms related during study
• lower extremity or trunk surgery in the last 6 months
• lack of medical approval for participation in sports games

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Number of groups / cohorts

1

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Young Athletes; 300 young athletes (boys and girls, 9 - 16 years-old) from clubs, teams, associations, sports classes of various disciplines in the Pomeranian Voivodeship

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants with sports injury after one-year follow-up	Dichotomous assessment (0 = no injury, 1 = injury) based on a telephone interview with the parent/guardian/coach. Conditions to meet: 12 months after the date of examination, and continuity of participation in sports to the date of injury	One year after the date of examination
Type, location, duration, and return to sports in participants with injury at one-year follow up	Assessment based on a telephone interview with the parent/guardian/coach. Questions about: exact type of injury (acute or chronic, contact or non-contact); location of injury (anatomic site, e.g. knee); duration of injury (time-loss, in days); return to sports (Does the participant return to sport, yes or no)	One year after the date of examination

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sports Specialization	Sports specialization defined as "intensive year-round training in a single sport at the exclusion of other sports". Where a highly specialized athlete may be able to (1) choose a main sport, (2) participate for greater than 8 months per year in 1 main sport, and (3) quit all other sports to focus on 1 sport.	through study completion, an average of 1 year
History of sports-related injuries	Questionaire - Question about sports-related injuries within sports career (sports participating in trainings and competitions) which included: - exact type of injury (acute or chronic, contact or non-contact); location of injury (anatomic site, e.g. knee); duration of injury (time-loss, in days) Answers will be performed from young athlete and coach. If there will be occasion, answers will be matched with answers from parents/guardians.	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Health-related quality of life: EQ-5D-Y	Patient Reported Outcome instruments" EQ-5D-Y - EuroQol Research Foundation - Certified Translation: Polish for Poland. The EQ-5D is a widely used standardized generic measure of HRQOL. A valid and accurate translation of the corresponding original document. A child-friendly version of the EQ-5D (0-100 points, where "0" means the worse quality of life, and "100" means perfect). (EQ-5D is the name of the instrument and is not an acronym.)	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Y-Balance Test - dynamic balance test	Dynamic Balance of the lower extremities (record as reach distance in centimeters "cm" and normalized reach distance in percentages "%")	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Functional Movement Screen (FMS)	The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) is a screening tool used to identify limitations or asymmetries in movement patterns. FMS consists of 7 movement tasks (deep squat, lunges, hurdle steps, a push-up, straight-leg raises, shoulder mobility, and rotary stability). Each task will be visually assessed by an experienced physiotherapist and marked on a 4-point scale (0-3, worst-best). The total maximum score that can be obtained is 21 points.	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Hand-Held Dynamometer (HHD) measurement - Isometric Strength of the lower extremities muscle	Hand-Held Dynamometer (HHD) measurement (Laffayette, USA). Isometric Strength (peak force, average force (kilograms), of the lower extremities muscle (gluteus medium, quadriceps, hamstring, triceps surae.	through study completion, an average of 1 year

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Sport workload (hours per trainings or competition)	Sports and training volume (hours per trainings or competition, weekly)	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Peak Height Velocity	Peak Height Velocity (PHV) calculated using the 'maturity offset' value (report as "PHV years") - Mirwald formula	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Sports discipline and position	Sport discipline (e.g. soccer) and Sports position (e.g. on the soccer field: defender)	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Participants characteristics - Body Mass Index	weight and height will be combined to report BMI in kg/m^2	through study completion, an average of 1 year
Sports experience	Sports experience (years, months)	through study completion, an average of 1 year

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Medical University of Gdansk
• Collaborators: Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Bartosz Wilczyński, phD, Department of Immunobiology and Environment Microbiology, Medical University of Gdańsk

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Wilczynski B, Hinca J, Slezak D, Zorena K. The Relationship between Dynamic Balance and Jumping Tests among Adolescent Amateur Rugby Players. A Preliminary Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jan 4;18(1):312. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18010312.
• Wilczynski B, Radziminski L, Sobierajska-Rek A, de Tillier K, Bracha J, Zorena K. Biological Maturation Predicts Dynamic Balance and Lower Limb Power in Young Football Players. Biology (Basel). 2022 Aug 3;11(8):1167. doi: 10.3390/biology11081167.
• Wilczynski B, Radziminski L, Sobierajska-Rek A, Zorena K. Association between Selected Screening Tests and Knee Alignment in Single-Leg Tasks among Young Football Players. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 May 31;19(11):6719. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19116719.
• Bruzda R, Wilczynski B, Zorena K. Knee function and quality of life in adolescent soccer players with Osgood Shlatter disease history: a preliminary study. Sci Rep. 2023 Nov 6;13(1):19200. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-46537-7.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): February 1, 2023
• Primary Completion (Estimated): May 1, 2025
• Study Completion (Estimated): September 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: March 10, 2024
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: March 15, 2024
• First Posted (Actual): March 22, 2024

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 24, 2024
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 22, 2024
• Last Verified: April 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Injury prevention; Young Athletes; Sports performance; Sports specialization
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Wounds and Injuries; Athletic Injuries
• Other Study ID Numbers: NKBBN/241/2023; SONP/SP/549693/2022 (Other Grant/Funding Number: Minister of Education and Science)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES

IPD Plan Description

Individual participant data that underlie the results reported in this article, after deidentification (text, tables, figures, and appendices).

The data that will be collected include data sets, i.e., personal survey questionnaires, measurement scales, functional and anthropometric assessment measurements, described in the description section of the scientific activity.

Part of the data will be published in the public repository of the Polish Medical Research Platform and the Zenodo repository. Part of the data will be published in scientific journals, which may also require publication of raw data. Data will be made available at the latest at the time of publication.

Data are available indefinitely at Polish Medical Research Platform and the Zenodo repository.

• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Immediately following publication. No end date
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Anyone who wishes to access the data
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

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