A prospective study on dinghy sailors' training habits and injury incidence with a comparison between elite sailor and club sailor during a 12-month period

Background Sailing is an Olympic sport practiced by both men and women of all ages. Despite being a popular sport, we have found no prospective studies investigating the injury incidence and training quantity such as found for other sports. The purpose of this study was to do an inventory over dinghy sailors' training habits, injury incidence and type of injury. Methods In this prospective cohort study, 45 sailors (17 women and 28 men), age 17-31years, were included. 24 sailors belonged to the SWE Sailing Team and 21 were club sailors. All the participants kept a training diary, and once a month for 12months they reported their training and injuries through a web-based questionnaire. Each time a sailor reported an injury, they were contacted by the researchers and an injury form was completed. Results The SWE Sailing Team performed significantly (p=0.006) more physical training than the club sailor. There was no significant difference (p=0.7) in hours of sail training. A total of 144 injuries were reported. The most common injury location was the knee (19%), followed by the lower leg (13%) and shoulder (12%). 30% of the injuries occurred during physical training, 17% during sail training and 12% during sail racing. Conclusions The most common injury location was the knee. The largest proportion of injuries occurred during physical training and unspecified activities. The least number of injuries occurred during sail racing. The injury location was different between the older more experienced sailor (more upper extremity injuries) compared with the younger sailors (more trunk injuries).