Characteristics Of Epidemiology And Physical Fitness Among Youth Male Basketball Amateurs

PURPOSE: Basketball-related injuries and pain may increase due to immature skills, growth, and development characteristics. Nonetheless, few studies have reported data concerning injuries and pain, and physical fitness among youth basketball amateurs. In this study, we studied epidemiology of basketball-related injuries and pain, and examined physical fitness among youth basketball amateurs. METHODS: We investigated 70 youth male basketball amateurs aged 12-16 years from Chinese middle schools. A questionnaire included injury (time loss) and pain (sports capacity) during the past year was used. A physical fitness test included sitting trunk flexion, slow vital capacity, standing long jump, pull-up, 1000-meter running, and single leg stance was performed. The main outcome measures were: injury and pain proportions, pain rate per 1000 playing-hours of exposure with 95% interval confidences (CI), and comparisons of physical fitness parameters. RESULTS: Among all the participants, 34 participants (mean age: 13.8 years) reported injuries. In total, 218 pain and injuries were reported including 181 pain, 35 acute onset injuries, and 2 gradual onset injuries. Of the 181 pain, 20.4% were finger, followed by knee (16.6%), wrist (16.0%), ankle (12.7%) and lumbar (9.4%). Of the 37 injuries, 37.8% were finger, followed by ankle (28.7%), and wrist (16.2%). The overall pain rate per 1000 playing-hours was 13.52 (95% CI: 11.55-15.49). Moreover, there were significant differences between upper limb (5.08, 95% CI: 3.87-6.29) and lumbar pain (1.27, 95% CI: 0.67-1.87) per 1000 playing-hours, lower limb pain (6.80, 95% CI: 5.40-8.19) and lumbar pain (1.27, 95% CI: 0.67-1.87) per 1000 playing-hours. The results show that knee pain occurred in 42.9% of all the participants. Knee pain participants had significantly weaker sitting trunk flexion (10.4 vs 13.9 cm, p = 0.05) and significantly weaker balance time on non-dominant side (41.9 vs 61.7 s, p < 0.05) than those without knee pain. CONCLUSIONS: Acute onset injuries and pain were common problems that mostly involved in upper and lower limbs among youth male basketball amateurs. Identifying the relationship of basketball-related injuries and pain and specific physical fitness parameters may help coaches and teachers prevent injuries and pain among basketball amateurs.