The NICA Mountain Biking Injury Surveillance System: 40,000 Student-Athlete-Years of Data

• Published in: Current sports medicine reports 2021-06, Vol.20 (6), p.291-297
• Main Authors: Willick, Stuart E., Ehn, Meredith, Teramoto, Masaru, Klatt, Joshua W. B., Finnoff, Jonathan T., Saad, Kristen, Cushman, Daniel M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1537-890X; 1537-8918
• DOI: 10.1249/JSR.0000000000000850

A web-based injury surveillance system (ISS) was implemented through a collaboration between University of Utah researchers and the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) to better understand injury characteristics in mountain biking. Data were collected from NICA leagues during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. Injuries were tracked in 41,327 student-athlete-years, identifying 1,750 unique injuries during 1,155 injury events. Rider-dependent and rider-independent variables were analyzed. The most commonly reported injuries were concussion (23.6%), injuries to the wrist/hand (22.3%) and shoulder (15.6%). Half of all injury events occurred on downhills. Males and females reported similar yet significantly different injury rates (2.69% and 3.21%, respectively; p =0.009). Females sustained more lower limb injuries (37.8% vs. 28.3%; p =0.003). Nearly 50% of crashes resulted in an emergency room visit. Youth mountain bike racing is a rapidly-growing sport. Acute traumatic injuries are common. ISS data is now being used to inform injury prevention strategies and direct future research. National Interscholastic Cycling Association injury surveillance system’s 40,000 athlete-years of data inform injury prevention strategies