Musculoskeletal injuries in elite able-bodied and wheelchair foil fencers-a pilot study

Objective: To explore the incidence of musculoskeletal injuries in elite able-bodied and wheelchair foil fencers. Design: A 3-year prospective cohort study of sport injuries during 2006-2009. Setting: A sample of elite able-bodied fencers (AFs) and wheelchair fencers (WFs) from the Hong Kong National Squad. Participants: A total of 14 wheelchair and 10 able-bodied elite fencers completed the 3-year study. Methods: Monthly interviews with fencers to collect data related to their injuries. Main Outcome Measures: The incidence rate and relative risk of injury were analyzed among able-bodied and WFs with different trunk control ability. Results: Wheelchair fencers had higher overall injury incidence rate (3.9/1000 hours) than AFs (2.4/1000 hours). Wheelchair fencers with poor trunk control were more vulnerable to injuries (4.9/1000 hours) than those with good trunk control (3.0/1000 hours). Upper extremity injuries were predominant in WFs (73.8%), with elbow (32.6%) and shoulder strain (15.8%) being the most common injuries. Lower extremity injuries were predominant in AFs (69.4%), with muscle strain over knee and thigh region (22.6%), ankle sprain (14.5%), and knee sprain (11.3%) being the leading injuries. Conclusions: Results of this pilot study highlighted the distinct injury incidence between the 2 different fencer groups. Larg-scale epidemiologic and biomechanical studies are warranted to improve the understanding of fencing injuries to develop specific injury prevention/rehabilitation programs.