acute injury

Key Take Aways

✅ 67.8% of injuries were due to falls

✅ 61.1% of injuries were in the lower extremity (26.6% upper extremity). Other studies point to the upper extremity more prevalent in chronic injuries

✅ 85% of ACUTE injuries (using UIAA injury severity) were considered middle/major injury. One study reported that only 28% of CHRONIC injuries were considered middle/major injuries

✅ Most common acute injuries were:
➡️ 53% sprains
➡️ 23% fractures
➡️ 12% joint disclocations

Summary

A retrospective study in 2022 looked at 447 bouldering related injuries that presented to the emergency department between 2010 and 2020. A subsequent questionnaire was completed by 145 of those that sustained an injury to learn more about the injuries

👉 Several other studies point to chronic injury more prevalent in the upper extremity, while this study points to acute injury more prevalent in the lower extremity

👉 There was a trend towards increasing number of acute injuries between 2010 and 2020. Authors postulate that this can be explained by the significant increase in climbing gyms (180 in 2000 to 500 in 2018 in Germany alone)

CItation

Müller M, Heck J, Pflüger P, Greve F, Biberthaler P, Crönlein M. Characteristics of bouldering injuries based on 430 patients presented to an urban emergency department. Injury. 2022 Apr;53(4):1394-1400

Link

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0020138322001097