Validity of injury self-reports by novice runners: comparison with reports by sports medicine physicians. Issue 1 (2nd January 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Smits, Dirk-Wouter; Backx, Frank; Van Der Worp, Henk; Van Middelkoop, Marienke; Hartgens, Fred; Verhagen, Evert; Kluitenberg, Bas; Huisstede, Bionka
• Is Part Of: Research in sports medicine. Volume 27:Issue 1(2019)
• Page Start: 72
• Page End: 87
• Publication Date: 2019-01-02
• Subjects: Athletes -- running -- injury location -- injury type -- self-reports -- validity; Sports medicine -- Periodicals; Athletic Injuries -- Periodicals; Exercise -- Periodicals; Sports Medicine -- Periodicals; Médecine du sport -- Périodiques; 617.102705
• DOI: 10.1080/15438627.2018.1492399
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1543-8627

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This study examined the criterion validity of self-reported running-related injuries (RRI) by novice runners. Fifty-eight participants (41 females; age 46 ± 11 yrs) of the "Start-to-Run" program provided self-reports on their RRIs using an online questionnaire. Subsequently, they attended injury consultations with sports medicine physicians who provided physician-reports (blinded for the self-reports) as a reference standard. Self-reports and physician-reports included information on injury location (i.e., hip/groin, upper leg, knee, lower leg, and ankle/foot) and injury type (i.e., muscle-tendon unit, joint, ligament, or bone). Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values were 100% for all five injury locations. For injury type, sensitivity was low (66% for muscle-tendon unit, 50% for ligament, and 40% for bone) and lowest for joint injuries (17%). In conclusion, the validity of self-reported RRIs by novice runners is good for injury locations but not for injury types. In particular for joint injuries, the validity of novice runners' self-reports is low. Abbreviations: RRI: Running Related Injury; SMC: Sports Medicine Centre; MTU: Muscle Tendon Unit; PPV: Positive Predictive Value