Muscle strain results for athletes

In this descriptive cross-sectional observational study of the Two Oceans Marathon (2012 – 2015), 76 654 consenting runners completed an online pre-race medical screening questionnaire of which 62 708 (58.8% of all entrants) were included in the study. A total of 2110 (3.4%) runners reported lower extremity muscle injuries in the last 12 months before race entry. Using univariate and multi-regression analyses, the following categories of factors associated with lower extremity muscle injuries were explored: runner demographics (sex, age, race distance), training/racing history, history of existing chronic disease and allergies. The crude unadjusted risk ratio {prevalence ratios (PRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs)} of lower extremity muscle injuries were calculated separately for each risk factor and were reported for all the results. Independent risk factors associated with muscle injuries were explored in the multi-regression analyses and reported as PRs with 95% CI. The statistical significance level was 5%, unless specified otherwise.