"Are your clients having fun?" The implications of respondents' preferences for the delivery of group exercise programs for falls prevention
- Authors: McPhate, Lucy , Simek, Emily , Haines, Terry , Hill, Keith , Finch, Caroline , Day, Lesley
- Date: 2016
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Aging and Physical Activity Vol. 24, no. 1 (2016), p. 129-138
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Background: Group exercise has been shown to be effective in preventing falls; however, adherence to these interventions is often poor. Older adults' preferences for how these programs can be delivered are unknown. Objective: To identify older people's preferences for how group exercise programs for falls prevention can be delivered. Design: A two-wave, cross-sectional, state-wide telephone survey was undertaken. Respondents were community-dwelling men and women aged 70+ in Victoria, Australia. Methods: Open-ended questions were asked to elicit information regarding respondent preferences of the program, which were analyzed using a framework approach. Results: Ninetyseven respondents completed the follow-up survey. The results indicate that older adults most frequently report the short-term advantages and disadvantages when describing their preferences for group exercise, such as enjoyment, social interaction, and leader qualities. Longer-term advantages such as falls prevention were described less frequently. Conclusions: This study indicates the importance of interpersonal skills, and that the opportunity for social interaction should not be overlooked as a positive feature of a group exercise program. © 2016 Human Kinetics, Inc.
"It Doesn't Make Sense for Us Not to Have One" - Understanding reasons why community sports organizations chose to participate in a funded automated external defibrillator program
- Authors: Fortington, Lauren , Bekker, Sheree , Morgan, Damian , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine Vol. 29, no. 4 (2019), p. 324-328
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objective: Implementation of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) in community sports settings is an important component of emergency medical planning. This study aimed to understand motivations for why sports organizations participated in a government-funded program that provided AEDs and associated first-aid training. Design: Face-to-face interviews. Setting: Community sports organizations in Victoria, Australia. Participants: Representatives from 14 organizations who participated in a government-funded AED program. Main Outcome Measures: Motivations to participate in the AED program were explored using a qualitative descriptive approach. Results: Two overarching themes emerged: awareness of the program and decision to apply. Awareness was gained indirectly through grant advertising in newsletters/emails/web sites and directly through their sporting associations. For most organizations, there was no decision process per se, rather, the opportunity to apply was the key determinant for participating in the program. A duty of care also emerged as a key driving factor, with recognition of AEDs as a valuable asset to communities broadly, not just the participants' immediate sports setting. Reflecting on participation in the program, these participants identified that it was important to increase awareness about AED ownership and use. The program benefits were clearly summed up as being best prepared for a worst-case scenario. Discussion: This study provides new understanding of why community sports organizations apply for an AED and training. The strongest reason was simply the opportunity to acquire this at no cost. Therefore, for wider implementation of AEDs, additional funding opportunities, targeted awareness of these opportunities, and continued promotion of AED importance are recommended.
'VisionZero': Is it achievable for rugby-related catastrophic injuries in South Africa?
- Authors: Brown, James , Viljoen, Wayne , Readhead, Clint , Baerecke, Gail , Lambert, Mike , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 51, no. 15 (2017), p. 1106-1107
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund (CBPJPF) was founded by Morne Du Plessis when his provincial rugby teammate—Chris Burger—was fatally injured during a match (www.playersfund.org.za). The CBPJPF aims to assist all seriously injured rugby players through donations made by individuals and organisations, including SA RUGBY. These seriously injured players form the CBPJPF ‘membership’ who often mention their appreciation for this lifeline. However, the founding member of the CBPJPF—Morne Du Plessis—is quick to say ‘we don’t want any new members’.5
A 2-year prospective study of injury epidemiology in elite Australian rugby sevens : Exploration of incidence rates, severity, injury type, and subsequent injury in men and women
- Authors: Toohey, Liam , Drew, Michael , Finch, Caroline , Cook, Jill , Fortington, Lauren
- Date: 2019
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: American Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 47, no. 6 (2019), p. 1302-1311
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Background: Injuries are common in rugby sevens, but studies to date have been limited to short, noncontinuous periods and reporting of match injuries only. Purpose: To report the injury incidence rate (IIR), severity, and burden of injuries sustained by men and women in the Australian rugby sevens program and to provide the first longitudinal investigation of subsequent injury occurrence in rugby sevens looking beyond tournament injuries only. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Ninety international rugby sevens players (55 men and 35 women) were prospectively followed over 2 consecutive seasons (2015-2016 and 2016-2017). All medical attention injuries were reported irrespective of time loss. Individual exposure in terms of minutes, distance, and high-speed distance was captured for each player for matches and on-field training, with the use of global positioning system devices. The IIR and injury burden (IIR × days lost to injury) were calculated per 1000 player-hours, and descriptive analyses were performed. Results: Seventy-three players (81.1%) sustained 365 injuries at an IIR of 43.2 per 1000 player-hours (95% CI, 43.0-43.3). As compared with male players, female players experienced a lower IIR (incidence rate ratio, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.90-0.91). Female players also sustained a higher proportion of injuries to the trunk region (relative risk, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.28-2.40) but a lower number to the head/neck region (relative risk, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.37-0.93; P =.011). The majority (80.7%) of subsequent injuries were of a different site and nature than previous injuries. A trend toward a reduced number of days, participation time, distance, and high-speed distance completed before the next injury was observed after successive injury occurrence. Conclusion: Female players have a lower IIR than male players, with variation of injury profiles observed between sexes. With a surveillance period of 2 years, subsequent injuries account for the majority of injuries sustained in rugby sevens, and they are typically different from previous types of sustained injuries. After each successive injury, the risk profile for future injury occurrence appears to be altered, which warrants further investigation to inform injury prevention strategies in rugby sevens.
A call to capture fatalities in consensus statements for sports injury/illness surveillance
- Authors: Fortington, Lauren , Kucera, Kristen , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article , Editorial
- Relation: British Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 51, no. 14 (2017), p. 1052-1053
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
A comprehensive observational audit tool for use in Australian fitness facilities
- Authors: Gray, Shannon , Sekendiz, Betul , Norton, Kevin , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science Vol. 18, no. 4 (2017), p. 306-317
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: A purposely designed observational audit tool (OAT) was developed following review of literature and international standards/guidelines for fitness facilities. The OAT was trialled to assess the physical environment of a sample of fitness facilities and determine its inter-rater reliability. Ten Victorian fitness facilities were visited to test the tool's inter-rater reliability, then 22 metropolitan and regional facilities in Victoria ranging in size and type were audited. A high degree of reliability was found (inter-rater reliability κ = 0.659 (p < 0.005); 95% CI (0.633, 0.685)); intra-class correlation = 0.985 (F474,948 = 67.226, p < 0.005, 95% CI (0.983, 0.987)). On average, facilities were colder and darker than international standards/guidelines specified. Distances around cardiovascular equipment varied between facilities. Free equipment was observed lying on floors in 66% (n = 21) of facilities. Twenty-seven facilities had signs instructing users to replace weights after use (66%). Only 19 (59%) facilities enforced towel use; however, 94% (n = 30) had disinfectant stations. The auditing of fitness facilities indicates more should be done at facilities to reduce injury risk. © 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
A framework for the etiology of running-related injuries
- Authors: Bertelsen, Michael , Hulme, Adam , Petersen, Jesper , Brund, Rene , Sørensen, Henrik , Finch, Caroline , Parner, Erik , Nielsen, Rasmus
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports Vol. 27, no. 11 (2017), p. 1170-1180
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The etiology of running-related injury is important to consider as the effectiveness of a given running-related injury prevention intervention is dependent on whether etiologic factors are readily modifiable and consistent with a biologically plausible causal mechanism. Therefore, the purpose of the present article was to present an evidence-informed conceptual framework outlining the multifactorial nature of running-related injury etiology. In the framework, four mutually exclusive parts are presented: (a) Structure-specific capacity when entering a running session; (b) structure-specific cumulative load per running session; (c) reduction in the structure-specific capacity during a running session; and (d) exceeding the structure-specific capacity. The framework can then be used to inform the design of future running-related injury prevention studies, including the formation of research questions and hypotheses, as well as the monitoring of participation-related and non-participation-related exposures. In addition, future research applications should focus on addressing how changes in one or more exposures influence the risk of running-related injury. This necessitates the investigation of how different factors affect the structure-specific load and/or the load capacity, and the dose-response relationship between running participation and injury risk. Ultimately, this direction allows researchers to move beyond traditional risk factor identification to produce research findings that are not only reliably reported in terms of the observed cause-effect association, but also translatable in practice. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
A letter to the editor is presented in response to the article "A consideration of severity is sufficient to focus our prevention efforts," by J. Langley and C. Cryer in the January 2012 issue.
- Authors: Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Injury Prevention Vol. 18, no. 5 (2012), p. 356
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
A new way of categorising recurrent, repeat and multiple sports injuries for injury incidence studies - the subsequent injury categorisation (SIC) model
- Authors: Finch, Caroline , Cook, Jill , Gabbe, Belinda , Orchard, John
- Date: 2015
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Australasian Epidemiologist Vol. 22, no. 1 (2015), p. 22-25
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/1058737
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Injuries are a major contributor to healthcare costs and individuals' health and disability status. In response to the overall public health burden, injuries were one of the first medical conditions identified as an Australian National Health Priority Area. Our previous epidemiological research has shown that sports injuries, especially those sustained through formal and highly competitive sport, are often associated with considerable pain and dysfunction. They have significant ongoing impact on quality of life and need for medical treatment, including in the hospital setting.They are also a major barrier towards both the uptake and continuance of health-generating physical activity guidance.
A population-based survey of knowledge of first aid for burns in New South Wales
- Authors: Harvey, Lara , Barr, Margo , Poulos, Roslyn , Finch, Caroline , Sherker, Shauna , Harvey, Jack
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Medical Journal of Australia Vol. 195, no. 8 (2011), p. 465-468
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objective: To determine the current level of knowledge of first aid for a burn injury and sources of this knowledge among the general population of New South Wales. Design, setting and participants: People aged 16 years or older were interviewed as part of the 2007 NSW Population Health Survey, a continuous telephone survey of NSW residents. Main outcome measure: Weighted proportion of the population with optimal first aid knowledge for burns. Results: In total, 7320 respondents were asked questions related to burn injuries and first aid. Of the surveyed population, 82% reported that they would cool a burn with water, and 9% reported that they would cool the burn for the recommended 20 minutes. Few respondents reported that they would remove the patient’s clothing and keep the injured person warm. The most common sources of first aid information were a first aid book (42%) and the internet (33%). Speaking a language other than English at home, and being over 65 years of age were associated with a lack of first aid knowledge. Conclusions: A minority of people living in NSW know the optimal time for cooling a burn injury and other appropriate first aid steps for burns. This study demonstrates a gap in the public’s knowledge, especially among non-English speaking people and older people, and highlights the need for a clear, consistent first aid message.
A prospective cohort study of the incidence of injuries among junior Australian football players : Evidence for an effect of playing-age level
- Authors: Romiti, Maria , Finch, Caroline , Gabbe, Belinda
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 42, no. 6 (Jun 2008), p. 441-446
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Objective: To determine the rate of injury in junior Australian football, and to describe the patterns and severity of these injuries across nine levels of play (U9 to U18). Design: Prospective cohort study. Setting: Junior Australian football games and training sessions were observed for 54 teams from New South Wales and Victoria over the 2004 playing season. Participants: Six teams from each level of play were invited to participate in the study. Overall, data were collected for 51 teams over 40 208 hours of player exposure. Independent variables: Participation and injury data were collected prospectively. Main outcome measures: Injury was defined as "any trauma that causes some disability or pain''. Injury severity was identified by the action of players immediately after the injury event. Results: The overall injury rate was 18.0 (95% CI 16.6 to 19.3) injuries per 1000 player hours. The main cause of injury was body contact (67.3%). There was an increased frequency of sprains and strains, and injury severity with increasing level of play. The rates of injury for players who stayed off the field (6.4 injuries per 1000 hours, 95% CI 5.6 to 7.2) or were advised to seek off-field medical advice (5.0 injuries per 1000 hours, 95% CI 4.3 to 5.7) were low. Conclusion: Compared with the adult game, junior Australian football is relatively safe. However, injury rates increase as children progress across age-determined levels of play towards the more adult form of the game.
- Description: C1
A sports setting matrix for understanding the implementation context for community sport
- Authors: Finch, Caroline , Donaldson, Alex
- Date: 2010
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: British Journal of Sports Medicine Vol. 44, no. 13 (2010), p. 973-978
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: There has been increasing recognition of the need for effectiveness research within the real-world intervention context of community sport. This is important because, even if interventions have been shown to be efficacious in controlled trials, if they are not also widely adopted and sustained, then it is unlikely that they will have a public health impact. There is very little information about how to best conduct such studies, but application of health promotion frameworks, such as the RE-AIM framework, to evaluate the public health impact of interventions could potentially help to understand the implementation context. Care needs to be taken when directly applying the RE-AIM framework, however, because the definitions for each of its dimensions will depend on the level/s the intervention is targeted at. This paper provides a novel extension to the RE-AIM framework (the RE-AIM SportsSetting Matrix (RE-AIM SSM)), which accounts for the fact that many sports injury interventions need to be targeted at multiple levels of sports delivery. Accordingly, the RE-AIM components also need to be measured across all tiers of possible influence on the rate of uptake and effectiveness. Specific examples are given for coach delivered exercise training interventions. The RE-AIM SSM is specific to the community sports setting implementation context and could be used to guide the delivery of future sports safety, and other health promotion, interventions in this area.
A systematic review of the factors which are most influential in children's decisions to drop out of organised sport
- Authors: Siesmaa, Emma , Blitvich, Jennifer , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Sport participation: Health benefits, injuries and psychological effects p. 1-45
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Sport participation is popular among millions of children in countries throughout the world. The well-documented health benefits of children‘s sport participation are important to help reduce childhood obesity and the burdens of other associated childhood diseases. Despite efforts to promote sport participation, unfortunately involvement for some children can be short-lived with sport dropout (or attrition) rates being relatively high, particularly during adolescence. Although research investigating the area of child sport dropout began more than 30-years ago, there is still much to learn about the issue, and correspondingly it has been identified as a major concern by both sport practitioners and researchers. Whilst previous studies have uncovered some factors that distinguish children who do and do not drop out of sport, a detailed examination of the published literature is required to characterise these issues further and to identify where knowledge gaps exist more fully. This Chapter reports the results of a systematic review of existing peer-reviewed literature related to reasons why children decide to drop out of sport. The Chapter identifies and critically reviews relevant studies and provides a summary of their findings to contribute to a clearer understanding of the factors influencing child sport dropout. In doing so, it identifies potential opportunities for preventing child sport dropout and for promoting long-term sport participation by all children. Using specific inclusion and exclusion criteria associated with the defined systematic literature search strategies, few relevant studies were identified which addressed the issue of child sport dropout. Nonetheless, this review has identified prominent factors that contribute to child sport dropout, such as conflict of interests and time availability, the re-orienting of interests and the pursuit of participation in other activities. An important finding of the review is the identification of a clear gap in knowledge surrounding the impact of sport injury as a contributing factor to child sport dropout. In fact, sport injury appears to be largely overlooked and/or removed from studies that seek to determine the factors that contribute to dropout in children‘s organised sport. In light of international public health concerns about sport injury, and global strategies to increase participation in sport and other physical activities, it seems pertinent to obtain a better understanding of the true impact that sport injury has on the long-term retention of children in sport.
A test of a systems theory-based incident coding taxonomy for risk managers
- Authors: Goode, Natassia , Salmon, Paul , Finch, Caroline , Lenne, Michael
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Proceedings of the 5th Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE) International Conference p. 5098-5108
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Organizations need to be able to collect reliable and accurate data on the causal factors that lead to near misses and injury causing incidents in order to design appropriate, informed, safety interventions. The aim of this study was to test the inter-rater reliability of a prototype taxonomy for classifying the causal factors involved in incidents in the outdoor education and recreation sector. The taxonomy consists of three levels, where each category level breaks the previous one down into a finer level of detail. The study involved 14 respondents, who play a key role in risk management within their organization, using the taxonomy to code 10 detailed incident reports. The incident reports were composited from reports and enquiries into actual events, and ranged in injury severity from fractures to fatalities. Participants were asked to: 1) identify the causal factors involved in each incident; and 2) identify the code/s from the taxonomy which best described those causal factors. The study demonstrated that the taxonomy can be used by risk managers to identify and code causal factors across all levels of the led outdoor activity system. However, identifying appropriate codes at the second and third level of detail was problematic.
Acceleration, change of direction speed and agility profile of adult community level Australian football players
- Authors: Talpey, Scott , Young, Warren , Twomey, Dara , Doyle, Tim , Elliott, Bruce , Lloyd, David , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2014
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Australian Strength & Conditioning Vol. 22, no. 5 (2014), p. 176-178
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The article presents research on the necessary data on change of direction (CODS), agility standards and sprint for Australian football (AF) coaches. Results of the study include the significance of specific information to AF players, the use of this information in highlighting the weaknesses and strengths among the players, and the implementation of certain training for CODS improvement.
Activity and place - Is it necessary both to identify sports and leisure injury cases in ICD-coded data?
- Authors: Finch, Caroline , Boufous, Soufiane
- Date: 2008
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion Vol. 15, no. 2 (2008), p. 119-121
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: 2003006560
Adapting an established measure of supervision for beach settings. Is the parent supervision attributes profile questionnaire reliable?
- Authors: Petrass, Lauren , Blitvich, Jennifer , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion Vol. 18, no. 2 (2011), p. 113-117
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565904
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: The Parent Supervision Attributes Profile Questionnaire (PSAPQ), developed to measure aspects of caregiver supervision and protectiveness and previously applied within playgrounds and in the home, was modified for implementation in a beach setting. To assess the test-retest reliability of the PSAPQ beach modification (PSAPQBEACH), 20 caregivers completed the PSAPQ-BEACH twice, over a mean interval of 18 days (range 10-24). The test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the PSAPQ-BEACH scores were compared to those of the PSAPQ. All scores on the PSAPQ-BEACH were higher than the PSAPQ, providing evidence that the questionnaire remains reliable after its adaptation to beach settings. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.
Adolescent physical activity during school lunch breaks : Same thing, different day
- Authors: Telford, Amanda , Casey, Meghan , Richards, G. , Finch, Caroline
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Conference paper
- Relation: Paper presented at 2009 Australia Conference of Science and Medicine in Sport, Seventh National Physical Activity Conference, Sixth National Sports Injury Prevention Conference, Be Active '09, Brisbane, Queensland : 14th-17th October 2009
- Full Text: false
- Description: School settings are an essential source of physical activity for adolescents because they provide curricular, co-curricular opportunities in addition to time during scheduled breaks. There has been limited previous research examining the physical activity behaviour of adolescents during break periods. Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the inter-day variability of adolescent's physical activity (PA) during school lunchtime periods. Methods: Participants (n = 40) from yr 8 to 10 (mean age = 14.5 ± 0.8 yrs) wore a SPI-Elite Global Positioning System (GPS) unit during five lunchtimes during a school week. Heart rate (HR), speed, distance, global position, and G force were measured for each participant and reported across a range of play spaces including a cricket net area, grassed oval, quadrangle, basketball/netball court area and seated shaded area for each participant across the five days. Analyses were performed on time periods randomly selected from three days for windows of 20 min+. Time spent within the various play spaces was determined by overlaying GPS data with Google Earth images of the school playground. Results: Independent samples t-tests revealed males (mean = 2.5 ± .97 km) covered a greater distance compared to females (mean = 1.5 ± .73 km) at the p < 0.01 level. Males also displayed significantly higher HR than did females during lunch breaks, at the p < 0.01 level. Students spent significantly more time and covered the greatest distance on the oval (grassed area) when compared to other play spaces (p < 0.01), and girls spent significantly more time in the seated shaded area than did males (p < 0.01). There were no significant differences for inter-day variability of average time, distance, HR, speed or G force within adolescent students’ physical activity during lunchtimes. Conclusions: The results suggest adolescents’ physical activity during lunch breaks is relatively stable across days. There are a number of feasibility issues relating to the use of GPS technology within the context of school settings and these are discussed. Future physical activity interventions targeting adolescents should consider the nature of the play space and may need to be tailored differently for males and females.
- Description: 2003008134
An Anterior cruciate ligament Injury prevention framework : Incorporating the recent evidence
- Authors: Donnelly, Cyril , Elliott, Bruce , Ackland, Timothy , Doyle, Tim , Beiser, Thor , Finch, Caroline , Cochrane, Jodie , Dempsey, Alasdair , Lloyd, David
- Date: 2012
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Research in Sports Medicine Vol. 20, no. 3/4 (2012), p. 239-262
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565907
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury rates have increased by ∼50% over the last 10 years. These figures suggest that ACL focused research has not been effective in reducing injury rates among community level athletes. Training protocols designed to reduce ACL injury rates have been both effective (n = 3) and ineffective (n = 7). Although a rationale for the use of exercise to reduce ACL injuries is established, the mechanisms by which they act are relatively unknown. This article provides an injury prevention framework specific to noncontact ACL injuries and the design of prophylactic training protocols. It is also apparent that feedback within this framework is needed to determine how biomechanically relevant risk factors like peak joint loading and muscular support are influenced following training. It is by identifying these links that more effective ACL injury prevention training programs can be developed, and, in turn, lead to reduced ACL injury rates in the future.
An overview of the epidemiological evidence linking injury risk to fatigue in sport: Identification of research needs and opportunities
- Authors: Finch, Caroline , Williamson, Ann , O'Brien, Brendan
- Date: 2011
- Type: Text , Book chapter
- Relation: Regulation of fatigue in exercise, Chapter 9, p. 155-176
- Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/nhmrc/565900
- Full Text: false
- Reviewed:
- Description: Despite the large literature on the role of fatigue and injury risk in road and occupational settings, evidence for a direct causal link between sports injury risk and fatigue has not previously been reported. This Chapter summarises the epidemiological evidence linking fatigue to sport injury risk, identifies gaps in knowledge relating fatigue and sport injury risk and examines the potential for translating fatigue research from other injury contexts as a means of improving the knowledge base with regards to sports injury. Drawing on the broader fatigue and injury literature linking injury risk to fatigue, fatigue can potentially impact on sport performance/injury risk in one of two ways (or a combination of both): from a cognitive or central fatigue view or through musculoskeletal fatigue. In terms of cognitive-related fatigue, the likely contributors are: 1) sleep homeostasis factors including how long since slept, length of sleep period, quality of recent sleep; 2) circadian or time-of-day factors; and 3) task-related factors (e.g. level of activity) inherent in sport. In terms of musculoskeletal fatigue, physiological factors appear to be mainly associated with inhibited motor control and failure of the brakes of excessive tension development within muscles. This Chapter highlights the lack of epidemiological studies directly linking fatigue to injury risk and where they exist, the poor conceptualisation and measurement of fatigue which limits conclusions. Most of the published studies in this area are related to football codes: rugby (league or union) or soccer. Fatigue is generally identified in these studies in terms of associations between observed injury incidence patterns and the phase-of-play or time-of-season when the injury occurred. Most importantly, whilst the epidemiological studies may conclude that fatigue is a likely or possible risk factor for injury, no prospective study has yet attempted to formally measure fatigue and directly relate it to injury incidence. Overall, this Chapter highlights a need for further epidemiological research on the role of fatigue in sports injury. In lieu of direct evidence, the Chapter reviews the physiological basis for a link between fatigue and musculoskeletal injury risk and discusses the evidence for effects of "cognitive" fatigue on sports performance that is likely to raise injury risk. The Chapter then combines this fundamental evidence for fatigue effects with aetiological models for sports injury causation to highlight key areas where significant knowledge gaps currently exist. Finally, suggestions for a future research agenda that adopts a truly multidisciplinary research strategy are given, for this very important topic.