Injury Experiences Of Collegiate Distance Runners And Implications For Future Injury Reporting

PURPOSE: To explore the injury experiences of collegiate distance runners and understand factors that affect their intentions reporting future injuries. METHODS: Collegiate distance runners completed an online survey about their past injury experiences and intentions of future injury reporting. Future injury reporting intentions were assessed using a case scenario guided by the Disclosure Decision-Making Model. RESULTS: 392 distance runners from NCAA Divisions I, II, and III completed the survey. Of these, 60.7% experienced an injury during their most recent competitive season. Among the recently injured participants, 53.8% reported injury symptoms to their coaches first, followed by 30.7% who initially reported injury symptoms to an athletic trainer. Participants who initially reported symptoms to coaches held closer coach-athlete relationships than their peers (p = 0.01). On average, participants reported a 68.3% likelihood of telling a coach or trainer about a future onset of injury symptoms. There were no differences in future injury reporting intentions by sex or recent injury status, however, participants with a history of Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) held lower intentions to report future injury symptoms than their peers (61.0% likely vs. 72.0% likely, p < 0.001). Additionally, participants who experienced greater time loss from a previous injury held lower intentions to report future injury symptoms than their peers (63.3% likely vs. 69.8% likely, p = 0.04). Overall, participants with lower intentions of reporting future injury symptoms perceived a greater stigma with being injured (p < 0.001), held more distant relationships with their coaches (p = 0.02), and perceived the symptoms described in the case scenario to be less severe when compared to their peers (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Among this sample of collegiate distance runners, past injury experiences influenced future injury reporting intentions. Participants with more severe injury histories and those with a history of RED-S held lower intentions of reporting future injury symptoms than their peers. Reducing the stigma associated with being injured and nurturing close coach-athlete relationships may improve future injury reporting intentions among collegiate distance runners.