Prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries in climbers

Abstract

Introduction: Injuries stemming from climbing practice vary according to the modality that is practiced, and they also tend to be related to greater technical demand and to excessive use without proper rest. The regions which are most commonly affected in
sport climbers, and which are the most reported in scientific studies, are: fingers, fist and elbow, mainly due to extremely small toeholds in which they must sustain themselves with their hands and rise. Chronic pain is a worldwide health issue that affects approximately 20% of the population, besides influencing on the reduction of patients’ life quality. It is defined as persistent pain beyond expected period of healing or continuous pain that lasts approximately three months. Chronic pain’s development
after an injury is one of the unwanted effects that occurs with climbers, resulting in a return to the sport that may lead to inferior performance in relation to previous technical level. Objective: Therefore, the aims of this project are to investigate prevalence of
musculoskeletal chronic pain in Brazilian climbers, to verify the proportion of diagnosed and undiagnosed individuals with musculoskeletal injuries, as well as to evaluate the relation between period of training and chronic pain and the prevalence by age range subgroup and by climbing modality subgroup. Methods: The study is based on an online questionnaire which was distributed and spread in national chain for two months during the year of 2020.