PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Debbie Palmer
AU  - Dale J Cooper
AU  - Carolyn Emery
AU  - Mark E Batt
AU  - Lars Engebretsen
AU  - Brigitte E Scammell
AU  - Patrick Schamasch
AU  - Malav Shroff
AU  - Torbjørn Soligard
AU  - Kathrin Steffen
AU  - Jackie L Whittaker
AU  - Richard Budgett
TI  - Self-reported sports injuries and later-life health status in 3357 retired Olympians from 131 countries: a cross-sectional survey among those competing in the games between London 1948 and PyeongChang 2018
AID  - 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101772
DP  - 2021 Jan 01
TA  - British Journal of Sports Medicine
PG  - 46--53
VI  - 55
IP  - 1
4099  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/1/46.short
4100  - http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/55/1/46.full
SO  - Br J Sports Med2021 Jan 01; 55
AB  - Objective Describe the self-reported prevalence and nature of Olympic-career injury and general health and current residual symptoms in a self-selected sample of retired Olympians.Methods 3357 retired Olympians from 131 countries completed a cross-sectional online survey, distributed by direct email through World Olympians Association and National Olympian Associations databases. The survey captured Olympic sport exposure, significant training and competition injury history (lasting >1 month), general health (eg, depression) during the athlete’s career, and current musculoskeletal pain and functional limitations.Results 55% were men (44% women, 1% unknown), representing 57 sports (42 Summer, 15 Winter), aged 44.7 years (range 16–97). A total of 3746 injuries were self-reported by 2116 Olympians. This equated, 63.0% (women 68.1%, men 59.2%) reporting at least one significant injury during their Olympic career. Injury prevalence was highest in handball (82.2%) and lowest in shooting (40.0%) for Summer Olympians; and highest in alpine skiing (82.4%) and lowest in biathlon (40.0%) for Winter Olympians. The knee was the most frequently injured anatomical region (20.6%, 120 median days severity), followed by the lumbar spine (13.1%, 100 days) and shoulder/clavicle (12.9%, 92 days). 6.6% of Olympians said they had experienced depression during their career. One-third of retired Olympians reported current pain (32.4%) and functional limitations (35.9%).Conclusions Almost two-thirds of Olympians who completed the survey reported at least one Olympic-career significant injury. The knee, lumbar spine and shoulder/clavicle were the most commonly injured anatomical locations. One-third of this sample of Olympians attributed current pain and functional limitations to Olympic-career injury.