Weightlifting Shoulder Injuries Presenting to U.S. Emergency Departments: 2000–2030

Weightlifting is associated with a significant risk of shoulder injury. We used the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database to identify patients presenting to U.S. emergency departments between 2000 and 2017 with weightlifting-associated shoulder injuries to determine how the health burden and demographic characteristics of these patients have changed over time. Our analyses demonstrated a significant increase in the national estimate of weightlifting-associated shoulder injuries between 2000 (N=8.073; C.I. 6.309–9.836) and 2017 (N=14.612; C.I. 12.293–16.930) (p<0.001), with linear regression (R2=0.87, P<0.001) projecting 22.691 national cases by 2030. Patients were most often males (83.3%; C.I. 81.5–85.2%) between 20–29 years of age (30.5%; C.I. 28.2%–32.8%) sustaining a sprain, strain, or muscle tear (65.1%; C.I. 60.4–69.8%). Additionally, the average age of injury (34.33 years; C.I. 33.43–35.23 years) in the 2012–2017 period was significantly higher than in prior periods (p<0.001). We postulated these findings may reflect older individuals more frequently participating in resistance training than in the past, and considered that contemporary fitness trends such as CrossFit might have higher injury rates. We believe increased awareness of this burden, coupled with focus on injury prevention strategies, could yield substantial national health and cost savings.