title: Injury risk evaluation in sport climbing.
abstract: The aim of this study was to quantify and rate acute sport climbing injuries. Acute sport climbing injuries occurring from 2002 to 2006 were retrospectively assessed with a standardized web based questionnaire. A total number of 1962 climbers reported 699 injuries, which is equivalent to 0.2 injuries per 1 000 h of sport participation. Most (74.4%) of the injuries were of minor severity rated NACA I or NACA II. Injury distribution between the upper (42.6%) and lower extremities (41.3%) was similar, with ligament injuries, contusions and fractures being the most common injury types. Years of climbing experience (p<0.01), difficulty level (p<0.01), climbing time per week during summer (p<0.01) and winter (p<0.01) months were correlated with the injury rate. Age (p<0.05 (p=0.034)), years of climbing experience (p<0.01) and average climbing level (p<0.01) were correlated to the injury severity rated through NACA scores. The risk of acute injuries per 1 000 h of sport participation in sport climbing was lower than in previous studies on general rock climbing and higher than in studies on indoor climbing. In order to perform inter-study comparisons of future studies on climbing injuries, the use of a systematic and standardized scoring system (UIAA score) is essential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Trauma Surgery, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany. alexanderneuhof@yahoo.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neuhof
authors.forename: F F
authors.initials: FF
authors.lastname: Hennig
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schöffl
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Schöffl
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D035002:Lower Extremity / Q000293:injuries*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009051:Mountaineering / Q000293:injuries*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000293:injuries*; D055815:Young Adult