Dataset Information

Risk Factors for the Development of Shoulder Pain in Elite Sled Hockey Players.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Shoulder pain is one of the most common injuries in adaptive athletes. There are minimal prior studies that investigate shoulder pain prevalence and associated risk factors in sled hockey players.

Objective

To characterize the prevalence of shoulder pain in elite-level adaptive sled hockey athletes and identify associated risk factors.

Design

Cross-sectional observational study.

Setting

2019 USA Sled Hockey Classic in Chicago, IL from 7 February 2019 to 10 February 2019.

Participants

Eighty-two elite sled hockey athletes who participated in a nationally sanctioned sports event.

Interventions

Not applicable.

Main outcome measures

The primary outcome of the study was to describe the experience of shoulder pain using player-reported outcomes of pain including: binary (yes/no) pain reporting in the last month, Performance-Corrected Wheelchair User's Shoulder Pain Index (PC-WUSPI) reporting pain in the last week, and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) reporting pain in the last month. Associations were assessed between the measurements of pain and characteristics of participants.

Results

Of all participants, 70.5% endorsed shoulder pain in the last month. The average VAS for the past month was 2.13 and average PC-WUSPI for the past week was 15.46. Statistically significant associations were found between endorsement of pain in the last month and specific correlative factors including increased weight (P value .008; odds ratio [OR] 1.04, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.07) and increased duration of manual wheelchair use (P-value .002; OR 1.13, 95% CI 1.04-1.22).

Conclusion

Elite-level sled hockey athletes commonly report experiencing shoulder pain. There is evidence that an elite-level sled hockey player's weight and longer duration of manual wheelchair use are both associated with a greater likelihood for self-reporting shoulder pain rather than number of years of playing the sport.

SUBMITTER: Spangenberg J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8471227 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Background:Pediatric sports specialization, defined as intense year-round training in a single sport as a result of excluding other sports for more than 8 months per year, is common in the United States. There are demonstrated physical and social risks to early pediatric sports specialization (defined as before age 12 years). While thought to be needed to acquire appropriate experience and excel in a given sport, there remains little information on when athletes at the highest levels of their sport specialized. This study aimed to define when professional and collegiate ice hockey players specialized.Hypothesis:Early sports specialization before age 12 years will not be common among elite-level (professional and collegiate) ice hockey players.Study design:Retrospective cross-sectional survey study.Level of evidence:Level 3.Methods:Male professional and collegiate ice hockey players within 1 National Hockey League organization and 2 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) organizations who were 18 years of age or older completed a survey at training camp detailing their history of sports participation and specialization.Results:A total of 91 athletes participated in the study (mean age, 22.8 years; range, 18-39 years). The mean age at the start of any sports participation was 4.5 years, and the mean age of sports specialization was 14.3 years. The mean age of specialization in the professional group, the NCAA Division I group, and the NCAA Division III group was 14.1, 14.5, and 14.6 years, respectively.Conclusion:Early pediatric sports specialization is not common in elite-level (professional and collegiate) ice hockey players.Clinical relevance:Early pediatric sports specialization before age 12 years is not necessary for athletic success in professional and collegiate ice hockey. This study provides further evidence supporting the recommendations of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine against early sports specialization.