Injuries in amateur horse racing (point to point racing) in Great Britain and Ireland during 1993-2006

Ganesh Balendra ¹, Michael Turner ² and Paul Mccrory ^1*

¹ Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine, University of Melbourne, Australia
² HRA, United Kingdom

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: p.mccrory{at}unimelb.edu.au.

Accepted 20 November 2006

Abstract

Objective: This paper is designed to provide a breakdown of injury incidence from amateur jump racing (also known as Point to Point racing) in Great Britain and Ireland during 1993-2006 and to compare the injury epidemiology with professional horse racing in Great Britain, Ireland and France.

Design: Retrospective review

Setting: Great Britain and Ireland

Participants: Amateur jockeys

Main outcome measures: Injury rates

Results: Injury data suggests that Point to Point racing is more dangerous from an injury point of view than professional jump racing, which has previously been shown to be more dangerous than flat racing. Amateur jockeys suffer from more falls than their professional counterparts, and this in turn puts them at greater risk of suffering more serious injuries.

Conclusions: Amateur (point to point) jockeys represent a sporting population that previously has been little studied. They represent a group at high risk of injury and formal injury surveillance tracking and injury prevention counter measures are recommended.

Key Words: concussion, equestrian injuries, horse racing, point to point racing, sports injury

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Balendra, G, Turner, M, McCrory, P (2008). Career-ending injuries to professional jockeys in British horse racing (1991 2005). Br. J. Sports. Med. 42: 22-24 [Abstract] [Full Text]