Abstract
Objective
To investigate associations of early specialisation (highly specialised before age
13 years) and sport participation volume with injury history in New Zealand children.
Design
Cross-sectional survey study.
Methods
Children attending a national sports competition were invited to complete a questionnaire
capturing specialisation level (high, moderate or low), participation volume and injury
history. Multiple logistic regression was used to investigate associations between
variables.
Results
Nine hundred and fourteen children (538 female) completed the questionnaire. After
adjusting for age, sex and hours of weekly sport participation, the odds of reporting
an injury history were not significantly higher for early specialised children compared
to children categorised as low specialisation (OR = 0.88; CI = 0.59–1.31; p = 0.53). Participating in more hours of sport per week than age in years (OR = 2.42; CI = 1.27–4.62; p = 0.02), playing one sport for more than 8 months of the year (OR = 1.60; CI = 1.07–2.36; p = 0.02), or exceeding a 2:1 weekly ratio of organised sport to recreational free-play
hours (OR = 1.52; CI = 1.08–2.15; p = 0.02), increased the odds of reporting a ‘gradual onset injury’.
Conclusion
Early specialisation in one sport did not increase the odds of reporting a history
of injury. Exceeding currently recommended sport participation volumes was associated
with increased odds of reporting a history of gradual onset injury.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 10, 2019
Accepted:
September 4,
2019
Received in revised form:
August 5,
2019
Received:
February 27,
2019
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 Sports Medicine Australia. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
