The distribution of muscle injuries per location and events in percentages and in incidences of all muscle injury per 1000 registered athletes with lower and upper limits of 95% of confidence interval (±95% CI) per location and events, in male and female athletes, during outdoor (WOC 2007, WOC 2009, WOC 2011, WOC 2013, EOC 2012 and EOC 2014) and indoor (WIC 2014, EIC 2009, EIC 2011, EIC 2013 and EIC 2015) championships
| Male | Female | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trunk | Upper extremity | Hip and groin | Thigh* | Lower leg | Others | Trunk | Upper extremity | Hip and groin | Thigh* | Lower leg | Others | |
| Percentage per event | ||||||||||||
| Sprints | 5.3 | 0.8 | 8.3 | 68.2 | 13.6 | 3.8 | 10.6 | 3.0 | 9.1 | 62.1 | 9.1 | 6.1 |
| Hurdles† | 5.7 | 0.0 | 20.0 | 62.9 | 8.6 | 2.9 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 6.7 | 73.3 | 20.0 | 0.0 |
| Middle distances | 0.0 | 0.0 | 11.1 | 38.9 | 33.3 | 16.7 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 41.7 | 25.0 | 0.0 |
| Long distances | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 38.1 | 47.6 | 14.3 | 4.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 33.3 | 42.9 | 19.0 |
| Marathon | 10.0 | 2.5 | 10.0 | 32.5 | 37.5 | 7.5 | 21.4 | 0.0 | 7.1 | 14.3 | 50.0 | 7.1 |
| Race walks*† | 8.8 | 0.0 | 5.9 | 52.9 | 14.7 | 17.6 | 0.0 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 66.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Jumps | 3.7 | 0.0 | 9.3 | 61.1 | 14.8 | 11.1 | 14.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 38.1 | 28.6 | 19.0 |
| Throws† | 20.0 | 12.0 | 24.0 | 12.0 | 28.0 | 4.0 | 10.0 | 20.0 | 10.0 | 20.0 | 30.0 | 10.0 |
| Combined events† | 5.3 | 10.5 | 0.0 | 57.9 | 26.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 55.0 | 20.0 | 20.0 |
| Incidence per 1000 registered athletes (±IC 95%) per event | ||||||||||||
| Sprints | 3.0±2.3 | 0.4±0.9 | 4.8±2.8 | 39.1±7.9‡ | 7.8±3.6‡ | 2.2±1.9 | 3.4±2.5 | 1.0±1.3 | 2.9±2.3 | 20.0±6.0‡ | 2.9±2.3‡ | 1.9±1.9 |
| Hurdles† | 3.3±4.6 | – | 11.6±8.5 | 36.5±15.0 | 5.0±5.6 | 1.7±3.2 | – | – | 1.8±3.6 | 20.2±11.8 | 5.5±6.2 | – |
| Middle distances | – | – | 2.5±3.5 | 8.9±6.6 | 7.6±6.1 | 3.8±4.3 | 6.2±6.0 | – | – | 7.7±6.7 | 4.6±5.2 | – |
| Long distances | – | – | – | 11.7±8.1 | 14.6±9.0 | 4.4±5.0 | 1.8±3.5 | – | – | 12.4±9.1 | 16.0±10.3 | 7.1±6.9 |
| Marathon | 10.4±10.1 | 2.6±5.1 | 10.4±10.1 | 33.7±18.0‡ | 38.9±19.3 | 7.8±8.8 | 9.5±10.7 | – | 3.2±6.2 | 6.3±8.7‡ | 22.2±16.2 | 3.2±6.2 |
| Race walks† | 6.3±7.1 | – | 4.2±5.8 | 37.7±17.1‡ | 10.5±9.1 | 12.6±10.0 | – | 4.3±8.4 | – | 8.6±11.8‡ | – | – |
| Jumps | 1.6±2.3 | – | 4.1±3.6 | 26.9±9.0‡ | 6.5±4.5 | 4.9±3.9 | 2.7±3.1 | – | – | 7.3±5.0‡ | 5.4±4.3 | 3.6±3.5 |
| Throws† | 5.5±4.8 | 3.3±3.8 | 6.7±5.3 | 3.3±3.8 | 7.8±5.7 | 1.1±2.2 | 1.3±2.6 | 2.7±3.7 | 1.3±2.6 | 2.7±3.7 | 4.0±4.5 | 1.3±2.6 |
| Combined events† | 3.9±7.7 | 7.8±10.8 | – | 43.1±24.9 | 19.6±17.0 | – | – | – | 4.1±8.0 | 45.1±26.0 | 16.4±15.9 | 16.4±15.9 |
*Significant difference in the distribution between male and female athletes (p<0.05).
†Disciplines differ for male and female athletes: hurdles: 110 m hurdles vs 100-m hurdles; race walks: 20 and 50 km vs 20 km only; throws: the weights of tools are different; and combined events: 10 vs 7 events; for male and female athletes, respectively.
‡Significant relative risk between male and female athletes (p<0.05). Relative risks of muscle injuries with lower and upper limits of 95% of confidence interval (±95% CI) were: for thigh muscle injuries 1.96 (1.36 to 2.83; moderate) for sprints, 5.32 (1.21 to 23.4; large) for marathon, 4.40 (1.03 to 18.8; large) for race walks, 3.71 (1.72 to 7.99; large); and for lower leg muscle injuries 2.68 (1.07 to 6.74; moderate) for sprints.