Masters Athletes: No Evidence of Increased Incidence of Injury in Football Code Athletes

Joe Walsh, Mike Climstein, Ian T. Heazlewood, Mark DeBeliso, Jyrki Kettunen, Trish G. Sevene, Kent J. Adams

Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland.
Bond University Research Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Science, Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine, Gold Coast, Australia.
California State University Monterey Bay, Kinesiology Department, Seaside, USA.
Department of Physical Education and Human Performance, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, USA.
Independent Researcher, Sydney, Australia.
School of Environmental and Life Sciences, Faculty Education, Health and Science, Charles Darwin University,Darwin, Australia.

DOI: 10.4236/ape.2013.31006                

Abstract

The World Masters Games, held quadrennially, is the largest international sporting competition in terms of participant numbers. Yet this cohort remains proportionately under investigated. An online survey using an open-source specialized survey application software program was utilized to investigate the 2009 Sydney World Masters Games (SWMG) football code athletes (association football, touch football, rugby union). A total of 931 masters athletes (28.2% response rate, aged 29 - 72 yrs, mean = 47.6, SD ± 7.1, 52.5% male) completed the survey, with touch football reporting the highest incidence of injury (29.2%) followed by rugby (27.0%) and soccer (21.2%). Analyzing injury data (t-tests, chi square) identified patterns in injury location (legs (11.2%, p < 0.01) followed by knees, feet and ankles) and significant (p < 0.01) classification patterns (muscle/tendon strain/tear (13.0%, p < 0.05), inflammation (6.1%), joint pain (6.0%) and ligament sprain/tear (5.8%)). There were also significant differences (p < 0.01) compared to general and elite sporting population data. For masters football athletes at the SWMG, the injury incidence during preparation for the tournament has similarities to, but is in fact significantly less than for these other sporting populations. Some gender and sport based differences in injury location and classification type were identified. There were also no significant age related changes in injury nature (classification type, location, incidence, time off work or training). Therefore these findings do not support the premise of masters football code athletes having a higher incidence of injury as compared to younger athletes.

Keywords

Sports; Exercise; Masters Athletes; Injury

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Adams, K., Debeliso, M., Walsh, J., Burke, S., Heazlewood, I. T., Kettunen, J., & Climstein, M. (2011). Motivations to participate in sport at the Sydney 2009 World Masters Games. Medical Science in Sports & Exercise, 43, S655. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000402628.93915.fc
[2]	Bahr, R., & Krosshaug, T. (2005). Understanding injury mechanisms: A key component of preventing injuries in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 39, 324-329. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2005.018341
[3]	DeBeliso, M., Adams, K. J., Climstein, M., Walsh, J., Burke, S., Heazlewood, I. T., & Kettunen, J. (2011). World masters games: North American participant medical and health history survey. Medical Science in Sports & Exercise, 43, S374. doi:10.1249/01.MSS.0000401503.38438.d8
[4]	DeBeliso, M., Walsh, J., Adams, K. J., Climstein, M., Heazlewood, I. T., Burke, S., & Kettunen, J. (2012). Body mass index of North American participants at the world masters games. American College of Sport Medicine 59th Annual Meeting and 3rd World Congress on Exercise Is Medicine. San Francisco, CA.
[5]	Direct Health Solutions (2011). 2011 Absence management survey. Sydney: Direct Health Solutions.
[6]	Doherty, T. (2003). Invited review: Aging and sarcopenia. Journal of Applied Physiology, 95, 1717-1727.
[7]	Ekstrand, J., H?gglund, M., & Waldén, M. (2011). Injury incidence and injury patterns in professional football—The UEFA injury study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 45, 553-558. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2009.060582
[8]	Heazlewood, I. T., Walsh, J., Climstein, M., Burke, S., Kettunen, J., Adams, K. J., & DeBeliso, M. (2011). Sport psychological constructs related to participation in the 2009 world masters games. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Sport Medicine and Sport Science.
[9]	Hunter, D., & Eckstein, F. (2009). Exercise and osteoarthritis. Journal of Anatomy, 214, 197-207. doi:10.1111/j.1469-7580.2008.01013.x
[10]	Hurley, M., Walsh, N., Bhavnani, V., Britten, N., & Stevenson, F. (2010). Health beliefs before and after participation on an exercised-based rehabilitation programme for chronic knee pain: Doing is believing. BioMed Central Musculoskeletal Disorders, 11, 31. doi:10.1186/1471-2474-11-31
[11]	Kallinen, M., & Marku, A. (1994). Sports-related injuries in elderly men still active in sports. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 28, 52- 55. doi:10.1136/bjsm.28.1.52
[12]	Kallinen, M., & Marku, A. (1995). Aging, physical activity and sports injuries: An overview of common sports injuries in the elderly. Sports Medicine, 20, 41-52. doi:10.2165/00007256-199520010-00004
[13]	Kenyon, C. (2010). The genetics of aging. Nature, 464, 504-512. doi:10.1038/nature08980
[14]	Kettunen, J. A., Kujala, U. M., Kaprio, J., & Sarna, S. (2006). Health of master track and field athletes. A 16-year follow-up study. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, 16, 142-148. doi:10.1097/00042752-200603000-00010
[15]	King, A., & Guralnik, J. (2010). Maximizing the potential of an aging population. Journal of the American Medical Association, 304, 1954- 1955. doi:10.1001/jama.2010.1577
[16]	King, D., Hume, P., Gianotti, S., & Clark, T. (2010). A retrospective review over 1999 to 2007 of head, shoulder and knee soft tissue and fracture-dislocation injuries and associated costs for rugby league in New Zealand. Sports Medicine, 40, 163-178. doi:10.2165/11319740-000000000-00000
[17]	Liubicich, M., Magistro, D., Candela, F., Rabaglietti, E., & Ciairano, S. (2012). Physical activity and mobility function in elderly people living in residential care facilities. “Act on aging”: A pilot study. Advances in Physical Education, 2, 54-60. doi:10.4236/ape.2012.22010
[18]	Longo, U., Rittweger, J., Garau, G., Radonic, B., Gutwasser, C., Gilliver, S., Kusy, K., Zieliński, J., Felsenberg, D., & Maffulli, N. (2009). No influence of age, gender, weight, height and impact profile in achilles tendinopathy in masters track and field athletes. The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 37, 1400-1405. doi:10.1177/0363546509332250
[19]	Longo, U., Rittweger, J., Garau, G., Radonic, B., Gutwasser, C., Gilliver, S., Kusy, K., Zieliński, J., Felsenberg, D., & Maffulli, N. (2011). Patella tendinopathy in masters track and field athletes: Influence of impact profile, weight, height, age and gender. Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy, 19, 508-512. doi:10.1007/s00167-010-1314-y
[20]	Marks, B. (2006). Health benefits for veteran (senior) tennis players. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 40, 469-476. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2005.024877
[21]	O’Shea, J. P. (2000). Quantum strength and fitness. Corvallis, OR: Patrick’s Books.
[22]	Reaburn, P., & Dascombe, B. (2008). Endurance performance in masters athletes. European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, 5, 31- 42. doi:10.1007/s11556-008-0029-2
[23]	Ryan, A. (2010). Exercise in aging: Its important role in mortality, obesity and insulin resistance. Aging Health, 6, 551-563. doi:10.2217/ahe.10.46
[24]	Sawyer, K., & Castaneda-Sceppa, C. (2010). Impact of aerobic physical activity on cardiovascular and noncardiovascular outcomes: Is anyone too old to exercise. Aging Health, 6, 251-260. doi:10.2217/ahe.10.10
[25]	Schneider, S. (2006). Sports injuries: population based representative data on incidence, diagnosis, sequelae, and high risk groups. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 40, 334-339. doi:10.1136/bjsm.2005.02288
[26]	Sydney World Masters Games Organizing Committee (2010). Sydney 2009 World Masters Games Final Report. Sydney: Sydney 2009 World Masters Games.
[27]	Tanaka, H., & Seals, D. (2008). Endurance exercise performance in masters athletes: Age-associated changes and underlying physiological mechanisms. The Journal of Physiology, 586, 53-63.
[28]	Walsh, J. (2010). A Markov States model for touch football. Proceedings of the 10th Australasian Conference on Mathematics and Computers in Sport. Darwin: Mathsport. 259-267.
[29]	Walsh, J., Climstein, M., Heazlewood, I. T., Burke, S., Kettunen, J., Adams, K. J., & DeBeliso, M. (2011a). Variations in body mass index with age in masters athletes (world masters games). Journal of the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 7, 1115-1119.
[30]	Walsh, J., Heazlewood, I. T., Climstein, M., Burke, S., Adams, K. J., DeBeliso, M., & Kettunen, J. (2011b). Body mass index for Australian athletes participating in rugby union, soccer and touch football at the World Masters Games. Journal of the World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 7, 1119-1123.
[31]	Williamson, J., & Pahor, M. (2010). Evidence regarding the benefits of physical exercise. Archives of Internal Medicine, 170, 124-125.