Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jun 13;9(1):46.
doi: 10.1186/s40798-023-00589-1.

Aetiological Factors of Running-Related Injuries: A 12 Month Prospective "Running Injury Surveillance Centre" (RISC) Study

Aoife Burke  1   2 , Sarah Dillon  3   4 , Siobhán O'Connor  3   5 , Enda F Whyte  3   5 , Shane Gore  3   4 , Kieran A Moran  3   4   5
Affiliations

Aetiological Factors of Running-Related Injuries: A 12 Month Prospective "Running Injury Surveillance Centre" (RISC) Study

Aoife Burke et al. Sports Med Open. .

Abstract

Background: Running-related injuries (RRIs) are a prevalent issue for runners, with several factors proposed to be causative. The majority of studies to date are limited by retrospective study design, small sample sizes and seem to focus on individual risk factors in isolation. This study aims to investigate the multifactorial contribution of risk factors to prospective RRIs.

Methods: Recreational runners (n = 258) participated in the study, where injury history and training practices, impact acceleration, and running kinematics were assessed at a baseline testing session. Prospective injuries were tracked for one year. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression was performed in the analysis.

Results: A total of 51% of runners sustained a prospective injury, with the calf most commonly affected. Univariate analysis found previous history of injury < 1 year ago, training for a marathon, frequent changing of shoes (every 0-3 months), and running technique (non-rearfoot strike pattern, less knee valgus, greater knee rotation) to be significantly associated with injury. The multivariate analysis revealed previous injury, training for a marathon, less knee valgus, and greater thorax drop to the contralateral side to be risk factors for injury.

Conclusion: This study found several factors to be potentially causative of injury. With the omission of previous injury history, the risk factors (footwear, marathon training and running kinematics) identified in this study may be easily modifiable, and therefore could inform injury prevention strategies. This is the first study to find foot strike pattern and trunk kinematics to relate to prospective injury.

Keywords: Impact acceleration; Injury; Kinematics; Risk factors; Running; Training.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Trace of Peakaccel and Rateaccel for the shank (left) and sacrum (right). A: initial contact detected; dotted line - - - -: Rateaccel, which was calculated as the slope of the peak (B)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Running-related injury pathologies
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Lopes AD, Carlos L, Junior H, Yeung SS, Oliveira L, Costa P. What are the main running-related musculoskeletal injuries? A Systematic Review. 2012;42:891–905. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Messier SP, Martin DF, Mihalko SL, Ip E, DeVita P, Cannon DW, et al. A 2-year prospective cohort study of overuse running injuries: the runners and injury longitudinal study (TRAILS) Am J Sports Med. 2018;46:2211–2221. doi: 10.1177/0363546518773755. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kakouris N, Yener N, Fong DTP. A systematic review of running-related musculoskeletal injuries in runners. J Sport Heal Sci. 2021;10:513–522. doi: 10.1016/j.jshs.2021.04.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bertelsen ML, Hulme A, Petersen J, Brund RK, Sørensen H, Finch CF, et al. A framework for the etiology of running-related injuries. Scand J Med Sci Sport. 2017;27:1170–1180. doi: 10.1111/sms.12883. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hespanhol Junior LC, van Mechelen W, Postuma E, Verhagen E. Health and economic burden of running-related injuries in runners training for an event: a prospective cohort study. Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2016;26:1091–1099. doi: 10.1111/sms.12541. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources