The impact of witnessing athletic injury: A qualitative examination of vicarious trauma in artistic gymnastics

Pedestrian Safety Among High School Runners: A Case Series

BACKGROUND

Participation in high school cross-country and track has increased over the last few decades. At the same time, the rate of pedestrian-involved motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) has also increased. In the context of organized sport, pedestrian safety among runners is often not highlighted, despite the risk of catastrophic injury.

PURPOSE

To describe incidents of pedestrian-involved MVCs involving student athletes captured by the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

STUDY DESIGN

Case series.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level 5.

METHODS

This study utilized surveillance data from the NCCSIR from 2011 to 2020. It presents descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, detailed summaries, and a Haddon Matrix.

RESULTS

There were 8 incidents involving 11 student athletes, resulting in 9 fatalities. Of these, 5 cases occurred in the afternoon or early evening, 4 occurred in the Fall, and 6 occurred in a rural area. Haddon Matrix analyses of case descriptions indicate schools should implement a runner safety program for all new runners and ensure that runner safety measures are included in emergency action plans.

CONCLUSION

Runner-related MVCs are relatively rare, but tragic, incidents. Pedestrian safety measures should be incorporated into school-sponsored practices and training runs.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

Pedestrian safety should be incorporated into runner safety and injury prevention efforts.

A narrative review of the risk factors and psychological consequences of injury in horseracing stable staff

Horseracing stable staff have a multifaceted role, acting as care givers, skilled athletes and equine experts, resulting in inherent high emotional, physical and mental demands. Despite these demands, and reports of significant injury risk to those working in racing at ground level, there has been no research investigating the psychological risk factors for injury in UK racing stable staff and how psychological responses to injury may affect long term mental health and wellbeing. With mental health at the forefront of industry consideration, this narrative review aimed to reflect on the current literature to propose occupational, life and social stressors that may be increasing the risk of injury in racing staff. In addition, this review aims to apply current injury theory to propose whether stable staff are at heightened risk of injury mismanagement. A literature search was undertaken to investigate the psychological aspects of injury, using five search engines and the following key words: injury, psychological responses, occupational, sport and/or athlete, equestrian, horseracing, jockey, risk of injury, rehabilitation, and injury minimisalisation. Articles were selected based on relevance to review aims, and research findings were synthesised under two primary areas: predictors of injury (working hours, job security, job control, life stressors, mental health and drug misuse) and responses to injury (positive and negative responses to injury, the role of social support, rehabilitation adherence, and injury minimalisation). Whilst there are limitations to narrative reviews, this study provides a novel interpretation of injury risk and responses specific to staff working in horseracing, where injury-related challenges are currently a key focus for sector employees, managerial staff and racing organisations. Recommendations for further research have been made to direct the advancement of knowledge in the field.

A qualitative investigation into the individual injury burden of amateur rugby players

OBJECTIVE

To examine the individual experiences of injury burden in amateur Rugby players across the onset of injury, rehabilitation, and return to play.

DESIGN

Qualitative.

SETTING

Irish amateur Rugby clubs.

PARTICIPANTS

Three male and two female Rugby players who sustained a severe injury that resulted in a time loss of at least 28 days.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Semi-structured interviews were used to explore the injury burden experienced during the three phases of injury.

RESULTS

Hierarchical content analysis revealed 36 codes representing individual injury burden, which were clustered into seven themes across personal (emotional reaction; impact on performance or involvement; lack of knowledge; severity of injury and incapacitation) and situational (exposure to others playing; negative experiences with treatment or rehabilitation; societal burden) dimensions.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that individual injury experiences can affect a player's recovery and rehabilitation outcome, potentially extending the injury process and affecting player availability for the team. As such, injury management should focus on alleviating any injury-related burden experienced by players, as well as burden placed on the team, to maximise rehabilitation outcomes.