Knowledge and Attitudes Toward Sports-Injury Prevention and Management Among Athletes and Coaches: A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction Participation in sports benefits health and well-being, yet preventable injuries remain a common occurrence. We assessed the knowledge and attitudes of athletes and coaches regarding sports-injury prevention and management, and examined whether greater knowledge is associated with more favorable attitudes. Method We conducted a cross-sectional survey of athletes and coaches recruited by convenience sampling from sports complexes in Vadodara, India. Participants completed structured questionnaires assessing knowledge (scored against a predefined "satisfactory" threshold) and attitude (benchmarked as "positive"). We compared subgroup proportions for satisfactory knowledge and positive attitude using chi-square tests and evaluated the association between total knowledge and attitude scores using a two-tailed Pearson correlation, with statistical significance defined at conventional levels. Results Participants reported generally positive attitudes toward injury prevention; however, their knowledge was limited, particularly in areas such as basic first aid and fundamental management principles. Knowledge did not differ meaningfully across age, gender, practice frequency, injury history, or level of play. Coaches showed variable knowledge across domains. Among athletes, greater knowledge was associated with more favorable attitudes; this association was not evident among coaches. Conclusion Athletes and coaches endorsed prevention but demonstrated gaps in foundational knowledge. Linking education to practice appears promising, as greater knowledge among athletes is aligned with more favorable attitudes. Embedding targeted prevention content into coach education, providing structured athlete training in evidence-based first aid and safe training practices, and fostering team-wide safety culture may help translate intent into consistent preventive behavior. Future studies using broader sampling frames, validated instruments, and prospective injury surveillance can strengthen inference and guide implementation.