Injuries and Overuse Injuries in Show Jumping—A Retrospective Epidemiological Cross-Sectional Study of Show Jumpers in Germany

Heinz-Lothar Meyer, Philip Scheidgen, Christina Polan, Paula Beck, Bastian Mester, Max Daniel Kauther, Marcel Dudda and Manuel Burggraf
Additional contact information
Heinz-Lothar Meyer: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
Philip Scheidgen: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
Christina Polan: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
Paula Beck: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
Bastian Mester: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
Max Daniel Kauther: Department of Trauma Surgery, Orthopedics and Pediatric Orthopedics, Agaplesion Diakonieklinikum Rotenburg, 27356 Rotenburg, Germany
Marcel Dudda: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany
Manuel Burggraf: Department of Trauma, Hand and Reconstructive Surgery, University Hospital Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 4, 1-10

Abstract: This retrospective cross-sectional epidemiological study deals with sport-specific injury patterns in show jumping. A total of 363 show jumpers of all levels (S) answered a retrospective questionnaire about injuries and overuse damages which occurred in the course of their careers. Demographic data and information on injuries in various body regions were collected. In addition to descriptive analysis, significance tests were performed. For better statistical comparability with other sports, exposure time was extrapolated with total career duration and weekly training hours, and injuries per 1000 jumping hours were calculated. The study included 251 (69%) women and 112 (31%) men, who were on average 26.9 ± 10.9 years old. The injury rate for the entire collective was 3.7 per 1000 h of exposure. The most frequently affected body region was the head (31%). Overuse complaints play a subordinate role and mainly affect the upper extremities (65%). The riders of the professional lower performance levels are less likely to injure themselves per 1000 h than riders of the higher performance levels. Riders who often or always wore a helmet suffered significantly fewer head injuries ( p = 0.008) and had a significantly lower total injury duration than riders who did not wear a helmet ( p = 0.006). Similarly, the study showed that riders who often or always wore a safety vest suffered significantly fewer spinal injuries ( p = 0.017) and had significantly fewer injuries per 1000 riding hours ( p = 0.031) than riders who did not wear a safety vest. Based on the present results, there should be an extension of the general helmet requirement and a requirement to wear safety vests in show jumping in general.

Keywords: epidemiology; equestrian sports; trauma; sports injuries; show jumping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2305/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/4/2305/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:4:p:2305-:d:751740

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().