Strength Training Injuries on the Rise?

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 - 09:52

From 1990-2007 the number of injuries related to strength training has nearly doubled. In a study that was published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine earlier this year, the number of injuries have increased overall however there are a few findings that stood out.

Males

• Males represented the most injuries with 82.3%
• Average age was 27.6 years
• Most injuries were a result of using free weights
• Common diagnosis was sprain/strain
• Result of injuries were due to free weights being dropped

Females

• Females represented 18.2% of the injuries
• Represented the largest amount of foot injuries

Youth

• Those 12 years and younger represented the largest amount of hand injuries
  55 years- plus
• Represented the largest amount of injuries involving machines

What has been the impact of this research?
Fitness and personal training publications have been running the statistics in order to raise awareness of creating safe strength training program for individuals. If you would like to read the complete study it is available in the SIRC Collection. Contact askalibrarian@sirc.ca .