Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Musculoskeletal pain and its association with maturity and sports performance in 14-year-old sport school students

Malmborg, Julia S. ; Olsson, M. Charlotte ; Bergman, Stefan LU and Bremander, Ann LU (2018) In BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine 4(1).
Abstract

Objectives In youth sports, musculoskeletal pain is often studied from the standpoint of sports injuries, but little is known about pain conditions in which athletes still participate. The aim was to study the frequency of pain and associations with maturity offset, health status and sports performance in 14-year-old sport school students. Methods Cross-sectional design. One hundred and seventy-eight students (108 boys and 70 girls) completed anthropometric measures for maturity offset (height, weight and sitting height), questionnaires (pain mannequin and EQ-5D for health status) and sports performance tests (sprint, agility, counter-movement jump and grip strength). Differences between groups were analysed with Student's t-test and... (More)

Objectives In youth sports, musculoskeletal pain is often studied from the standpoint of sports injuries, but little is known about pain conditions in which athletes still participate. The aim was to study the frequency of pain and associations with maturity offset, health status and sports performance in 14-year-old sport school students. Methods Cross-sectional design. One hundred and seventy-eight students (108 boys and 70 girls) completed anthropometric measures for maturity offset (height, weight and sitting height), questionnaires (pain mannequin and EQ-5D for health status) and sports performance tests (sprint, agility, counter-movement jump and grip strength). Differences between groups were analysed with Student's t-test and analysis of covariance. Results Thirty-one students (18.6%) reported infrequent pain, 85 (50.9%) frequent pain and 51 (30.5%) constant pain. Students in the constant pain group had worse health status than those in the infrequent pain group. Boys with constant pain (n=27) had a lower mean maturity offset (-0.38 vs 0.07 years; p=0.03) than boys with infrequent pain (n=22), and pain was associated with worse sports performance. There was no difference in maturity or sports performance between girls with constant pain (n=24) and girls with infrequent pain (n=9). Conclusion Musculoskeletal pain is common in sport school students and coincides with worse health status and with a younger biological age in boys. The high prevalence of pain should be acknowledged by coaches and student healthcare workers in order to promote a healthy and sustainable development in young athletes.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
adolescent, children's health and exercise, exercise testing, maturation, sporting injuries
in
BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
volume
4
issue
1
article number
e000395
publisher
BMJ Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • pmid:30018793
  • scopus:85050373874
ISSN
2055-7647
DOI
10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000395
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
edaef33c-3696-451b-88ee-7fc63d3e2961
date added to LUP
2018-09-03 15:53:11
date last changed
2024-04-01 08:12:27
@article{edaef33c-3696-451b-88ee-7fc63d3e2961,
  abstract     = {{<p>Objectives In youth sports, musculoskeletal pain is often studied from the standpoint of sports injuries, but little is known about pain conditions in which athletes still participate. The aim was to study the frequency of pain and associations with maturity offset, health status and sports performance in 14-year-old sport school students. Methods Cross-sectional design. One hundred and seventy-eight students (108 boys and 70 girls) completed anthropometric measures for maturity offset (height, weight and sitting height), questionnaires (pain mannequin and EQ-5D for health status) and sports performance tests (sprint, agility, counter-movement jump and grip strength). Differences between groups were analysed with Student's t-test and analysis of covariance. Results Thirty-one students (18.6%) reported infrequent pain, 85 (50.9%) frequent pain and 51 (30.5%) constant pain. Students in the constant pain group had worse health status than those in the infrequent pain group. Boys with constant pain (n=27) had a lower mean maturity offset (-0.38 vs 0.07 years; p=0.03) than boys with infrequent pain (n=22), and pain was associated with worse sports performance. There was no difference in maturity or sports performance between girls with constant pain (n=24) and girls with infrequent pain (n=9). Conclusion Musculoskeletal pain is common in sport school students and coincides with worse health status and with a younger biological age in boys. The high prevalence of pain should be acknowledged by coaches and student healthcare workers in order to promote a healthy and sustainable development in young athletes.</p>}},
  author       = {{Malmborg, Julia S. and Olsson, M. Charlotte and Bergman, Stefan and Bremander, Ann}},
  issn         = {{2055-7647}},
  keywords     = {{adolescent; children's health and exercise; exercise testing; maturation; sporting injuries}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BMJ Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine}},
  title        = {{Musculoskeletal pain and its association with maturity and sports performance in 14-year-old sport school students}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000395}},
  doi          = {{10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000395}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}