AN EPIDEMIOLOGICAL STUDY OF INJURY AND ILLNESS IN THE BRITISH SKELETON SQUAD – 2009–2013

A study on injury prevalence and pattern of injuries among velodrome cycling players

Velodrome cycling is a sport that requires cycling on an inclined surface, and this may increase chances of injury in players. The purpose of this study was to find out the injury pattern in form of injured part, injury time, severity, type and relation with gender, level of participation and training characteristics among velodrome cycling players. Injury pattern from the last 2 years was studied in 85 velodrome cycling players aging between 15-25 years from Punjab using a scheduled interview method. The study included players who were practicing cycling at least 3 times per week for more than 2 years. The mean age of the study participants was 19.39 years (range 15-25). According to the results of this study, 48 out of 85 cyclists had sustained 75 injuries in the last 2 years, in which 52% (39) injuries were due to fall, 66.67% were traumatic injuries and 84% occurred during training time. The most commonly injured parts were shoulder and knee. For the shoulder, the clavicle was the most frequently fractured bone (11 cases) among the 85 cyclists. The severity of injuries calculated according to Ekstrand’s 3-point scale based on absence from the sports activity depicted most injuries as severe (39.58%) followed by mild (33.33%) and moderate (27.08%). It can be concluded that females were injured more as compared to male velodrome cyclists. The most common injured parts were shoulder in upper limb and knee in lower limb.