Common Musculoskeletal Injuries in Athletes and Its Relation with Body Mass Index (BMI) in Jeddah Society

Aims: To study the types of sports injuries in different age groups and its prevalence in the Saudi society, especially in the city of Jeddah, thus comparing them with the BMI of the different age groups.

Study Design: A prospective study with a special questionnaire to collect data.

Place and Duration of Study: Subjects: Department of Radiology (X-ray unit), King Abdulaziz University Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for 3 months.

Methodology: A questionnaire developed by the authors was used to collect data. The questionnaire had two parts. The first part was used to collect demographic data, and the second part was used to determine the incidences and regions (knee, upper and other lower limb regions) of sports injuries. The subjects of the survey were athletes competing in football, basketball, handball, volleyball and daily athletics. Then, SPSS 15.0 for Windows was used for statistical analyses. Data are presented using descriptive statistics and were analyzed using the chi-squared test.

Results: The majority of injured subjects were youth. The upper limb region had the highest incidence of injury (38%) as well as the knee (36%), while the lower limb region had the lowest (26%) injury. The injuries in a knee were the highest (50%) in the adult subjects compared with the other age categories. The highest percentage of the upper limb and other regions of lower limb injuries were concentrated in the pediatric (47%) and youth (67.5%) age groups. There is a highly significant relationship (p<0.05) between the BMI and athletic injuries for the studied age groups. The most common type of injuries that have presented a highly statistical significance were the upper limb (p=3.44×10-6) as well as the other type of injuries for the degree of freedom (df=6).

Conclusion: It is confirmed that there is a lack of awareness in nutrition habits in this culture and society, which leads to obesity and overweightness, thus causing injuries when practicing sports.