Background: Gymnastics is a popular and physically demanding sport among children and adolescents. Identifying recent trends in injury patterns may help inform injury prevention strategies and counsel patients on risks involved in gymnastics participation. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that rates of acute gymnastics-related injuries will have increased over time, with differences in injury patterns based on age category and sex. Methods: The Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS) database was queried for patients five to 17 years old from 2010 to 2023 who presented with gymnastics-related injuries. Descriptive, univariate and multinomial regression analyses were performed to identify trends in injury patterns and associations between children (ages 5-12) and adolescents (ages 13-17), sexes, injury location (upper extremity, lower extremity, and pelvis/spine), and type of injury (fractures and sprains/strains versus all other injuries). Results: 9,699 gymnastics-related injuries were identified. Median age at presentation was 10.0 years (interquartile range IQR 8.0-12.0); 88.16% of patients were female. The rate of gymnastics-related injuries presenting for evaluation in a hospital setting has increased, rising from 571 in 2010 to 876 in 2023. 75.1% of injuries occurred in children ages 5-12. Injuries were more frequent in the spring and fall compared to summer and winter. Overall, injuries occurred most commonly in the upper extremity (72.2%), and 73.0% of all injuries were fractures. Children ages 5-12 were more likely to present with fractures, while adolescents ages 13-17 were more likely to present with sprains/strains. Injuries of the lower extremity were more common in females than males in both age groups. While fractures were the most common injury in both sexes, female athletes in both age groups presented more frequently with sprains/strains compared to males. Conclusion: Acute, gymnastics-related injuries requiring emergency evaluation and management have increased over the study time period. Patterns of injuries vary by time of year and by patient age and sex. Knowledge of these patterns may inform the structure of gymnastics programs to mitigate injuries, and families of pediatric and adolescent patients participating in gymnastics may be counseled on risks based on patient age and sex.
Kuka et al. (Mon,) studied this question.