Occurrence of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Novice Runners: An Integrative Review

This integrative review examined musculoskeletal injury occurrence in adult novice runners. The search was conducted exclusively in PubMed, updated on October 2, 2026, and covered publications from 2015 through that date. Ninety-three unique records were identified; 17 proceeded to full-text retrieval, seven were assessed in full, and six were included in the synthesis. Findings were analyzed descriptively, considering definitions of novice runner and injury, follow-up periods, and denominators. No formal risk-of-bias instrument was applied. One cohort recorded 185 injured participants among 1,696 novices over six weeks (10.9%); retrospectively estimated annual injury rates among novice runners ranged from 7.4 to 11.1 per 1,000 running hours. Lower-limb injuries predominated. The single-database search, unavailable full texts, screening without independent reviewers, and absence of formal risk-of-bias assessment limit the scope and confidence of the conclusions.