An investigation into the incidence of injury in the competitive adult ice skating population: A pilot study

Authors

Blewitt Cheryl

Abstract

Ice skating is a popular sport with participation increasing in recent years. The sport has altered considerably over the past 10-20 years, including changes to competition format and the introduction of a new judging system. These changes place more emphasis on the technical difficulty of the sport with an increase in injuries being seen. New branches of skating have evolved including the adult skater, a discipline where skaters may be returning to competition after a break or taking up competitive skating for the first time. There is a paucity of research investigating ice-skating, and although previous research suggests injury rate is low compared to other sports, recent changes in the sport need to be accounted for. Adult ice skaters completed an on-line questionnaire assessing their incidence of injury. All participants had suffered at least one on-ice injury, with the knee (18%), back (12%) and lower limb (12%) receiving the highest incidence. Falling (41%) was the main cause of injury with muscle and tendon injuries (25%), bruising (24%) and fractures (22%) being the most prevalent. This study suggests that further research is needed to investigate the incidence of injury in ice skaters and formulate programs to aid coaches with the aim of preventing such injuries in the future.

Keywords

Incidence, injury, competitive, adult, ice-skater

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References

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