youth climbing

Key Take Aways
✅ Elite youth climbers are not aware of the most common finger injury amongst youth climbers

✅ Elite youth climbers are not aware of the recommendations for youth climbers for campus board training

✅ “Educating youth, coaches, and parents about finger injuries would first effect better diagnosis and treatment, and if safe training regimens and rules are adapted with general agreement, could then reduce the incidence of growth plate injuries in youth climbers”

Population

Elite youth climbers

Summary

A study published in 2020 measured injury awareness in 267 elite youth climbers who answered survey questions
1. Participants were asked to rank what they believe the most common youth climbing injury
2. What is the safe age to start double dyno campus boarding?

Meyers et al found that youth climbers had: 

1) misconceptions about finger injuries

👉 15% of youth answered correctly that the most common youth climbing injury is growth plate injury

👉 36% of youth listed A2 pulley injuries as the most common injury by youth climbers. A2 pulley injuries are rare in youth climbers who are skeletally immature

👉 Growth plate injuries prevalence as high as 70% of all youth climbing finger injuries in 1 study but more data is needed

👉 58% of youth did not know the definition of a growth plate injury

2) were unaware of the recommended safe age to start double dyno campus board training

👉 5.7% of youth answered correctly (age 18 years old as recommended by the British Mountain Council and the International Mountaineering Association Medical Commission

👉 94% of youth believed the safe age to start double dyno campus board training was less than eighteen, claimed age did not matter, or they did not know

Citation

Meyers RN, Hobbs SL, Howell DR, Provance AJ. Are Adolescent Climbers Aware of the Most Common Youth Climbing Injury and Safe Training Practices? International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020; 17(3):812

Link

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7037851/pdf/ijerph-17-00812.pdf