Cross-sectional investigation of stress fractures in German elite triathletes

  • Triathlon is a popular sport for both recreational and competitive athletes. This study investigated the rates and patterns of stress fractures in the German national triathlon squad. We developed a web-based retrospective questionnaire containing questions about the frequency of stress fractures, anatomic localisation and associated risk factors. The survey was conducted as an explorative cross-sectional study. Eighty-six athletes completed the questionnaire. Twenty athletes (23%) sustained at least one stress fracture. All documented stress fractures were located in the lower extremities. Factors associated with a higher risk for stress fractures were female gender, competitive sport prior to triathlon career, Vitamin D or iron deficiency, menstrual disturbances and a high number of annual training hours. Disseminating knowledge among athletes and their professional community in order to raise awareness about early symptoms and relevant risk factors could help to improve prevention and reduce the incidence of stress fractures.

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Author:Pauline Neidel, Petra Wolfram, Thilo Hotfiel, Martin Engelhardt, Rainer Koch, Geoffrey Lee, Stefan Zwingenberger
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-542935
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7040088
ISSN:2075-4663
Pubmed Id:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30991761
Parent Title (English):Sports
Publisher:MDPI
Place of publication:Basel
Document Type:Article
Language:English
Year of Completion:2019
Date of first Publication:2019/04/15
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2020/07/27
Tag:injury; prevention; risk factors; stress fracture; triathlon
Volume:7
Issue:4, Art. 88
Page Number:10
First Page:1
Last Page:10
Note:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
HeBIS-PPN:467707685
Institutes:Psychologie und Sportwissenschaften / Sportwissenschaften
Dewey Decimal Classification:7 Künste und Unterhaltung / 79 Sport, Spiele, Unterhaltung / 790 Freizeitgestaltung, darstellende Künste, Sport
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung 4.0