ATHLETES MAY SEEK CARE AFTER SELF-REPORTING RECENT INJURIES, BUT NOT ALWAYS FOR THE REPORTED ISSUE.

In athlete populations, self-reported injuries are relatively accurate within a year of the injury. However, it is unclear if athletes will seek care after self-reporting recent injuries prior to a competitive period. PURPOSE: We evaluated the prevalence of Team USA athletes seeking care after self-reporting recent injuries prior to a major international competition. METHODS: An electronic Health History survey (HHx) was sent to 685 Team USA athletes who were competing in the 2023 Pan American Games (PAG). Athletes were asked to report any recent injuries, including details on date and diagnosis of injury, that kept them from training or competition. During the PAG, Team USA designated medical professionals used an electronic medical record (EMR) to record medical encounters. Data from the HHx and the EMR were merged to evaluate the prevalence of those who reported recent injuries and who also sought care. RESULTS: Of the 623 completed HHx, 113 (18.1%) athletes reported a recent injury. These athletes reported 147 injuries (average of 1.28 injuries per athlete). The anatomic locations with the highest prevalence of self-reported injury were knee (17%), ankle (17%), shoulder (14%), back (11%) and foot (11%). During the PAG, 71 of the 113 athletes (62.8%) recorded at least one musculoskeletal (MSK) based encounter, which accounted for 270 MSK encounters (25% of the total athlete encounters). Of these 71 athletes, 28 (39.4%) were seen for at least one of the injuries they self-reported. The top self-reported injuries for which these athletes sought care were the ankle (30%), shoulder (13%) and back (13%). Seven additional athletes were seen for a concern on the same limb as the self-reported injury, for a total of 30.9% (35/113) of those who reported a recent injury being seen for their self-reported injury or a complaint to the limb of the self-reported injury. CONCLUSION: When an athlete self-reports a recent injury, it is probable that the athlete will seek care for either their injury or other musculoskeletal concerns. We will use this information to help us explore how and why athletes report injuries and seek care. Overall, our findings suggest that Sports Medicine teams could potentially use self-reported injuries to effectively plan for clinical encounters in preparation for a competition.