title: Athletes' perception of the causes of injury in gymnastics.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Gymnastics requires a high level of flexibility, conditioning and complete body recruitment that is infrequently matched by other sports. Artistic gymnastics has a relatively high incidence of injuries, which are generally of minor or medium severity. With all its complexity, it poses a unique diagnostic and treatment challenge to medical practitioners. The present study examined athletes' perception of the causes of injury and of the possible ways to reduce their incidence.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research involved 63 quality athletes, of whom 20 were in men's artistic gymnastics, 21 in women's artistic gymnastics, and 22 in rhythmic gymnastics. We used the self-assessment method. Factors inducing injury were grouped into three different categories: training, the athlete himself, and the environment. We used the χ2 test to test the association between a risk factor and injuries. The association between injuries and risk factors was also tested using a multivariate logistic regression analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall, an incidence of 184 injuries was found, of which 67 (36.4%) were acute and 117 (63.5%) were chronic injuries. According to binary logistic regression analyses, psychological factors significantly associated with the prevalence of acute and chronic injury in both sexes for all disciplines were: a poor technique, improper methods of teaching, and an inadequate load. In our study, higher rates of acute and chronic injury were observed among male gymnasts, who reported their occurrence during training by overload, and among female gymnasts, who reported a poor technique, improper methods of teaching, and an inadequate load as main causes of their occurrence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Improving the communication between athletes and coaches, taking the opinion of an athlete into account, and the athlete's active involvement in preparation of the program include the most crucial points for reducing the incidence of injuries.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Education, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Edvard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kolar
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia - mitija@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mitija S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pavletič
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Information Technologies, University of Primorska, Koper, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Smrdu
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physical Education and Sport, University of Tuzla, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
authors.forename: Almir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atiković
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes / Q000523:psychology*; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000209:etiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006173:Gymnastics / Q000293:injuries*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult