Risk factors of running injuries middle-age to elderly Thai joggers

Abstract

Running is one of the most popular leisure sport activities. Besides its beneficial health effect, negative side effects in terms of sports injuries should also be recognized, especially middle-age and elderly people. The purpose of this study was to identify risk factors of running injury in middle-age to elderly joggers and to determine the incidence of running injuries. Running related injuries were prospectively monitored in 250 Thai joggers, aged 45-75 years for middle-age to elderly subjects for 16 weeks. The Questionnaire was used to collect data as follows; characteristics of subjects, jogging profile, and running injuries profile. Additionally, the measurement of static lower-limb alignment (Q-angle, leg-length discrepancy, arch type). Logistic regression model assessed the relative contribution of the predicted risk factors. Most subjects were male (90.4%), aged 53.5 +- 6.39 years. After logistic regression analysis found that male (OR 3.801; 95%CI 1.279 to 11.292), arch type (Low arch) (OR 5.811; 95%CI 1.238 to 27.273), holding time of each stretch (< 15 sec vs. > 30 sec per stretch) (OR 2.734; 95%CI 1.166 to 6.409), previous injuries (OR 9.996; 95%CI 4.974 to 20.088) were associated with running injuries. The incidence of running injuries was 48.4% and the knee (46.6%) was the most commonly injured site. In conclusion, previous injuries were the greatest risk factors for running injuries in this study, followed by arch type, holding time of each stretch, and sex respectively.