Context: Club sports are intercollegiate athletics that are student-led and not university-funded, many of which are without professional credentialing. Collegiate club athletes have an increased rate of injury compared to their NCAA counterparts. Education and implementation of stretching and strength training have demonstrated decreased rates of noncontact injuries.
Objectives: Educational intervention was given to club collegiate athletes to determine its effect on injury rates, perceived pain, and compliance toward injury-prevention practices.
Methods: Intramural collegiate athletes were educated on injury prevention that focused on targeted stretching. Surveys designed to assess the impact of the education were distributed to three men's club lacrosse teams in Utah at the beginning and end of the season. The questions measured pain and time missed due to noncontact injury.
Results: Two-tailed unpaired t tests demonstrated p values <0.05 for: overall decreased levels of pain (p<0.0001); increased range of motion (ROM, p<0.0001); increased frequency of stretching the muscle groups psoas (p<0.0001), calves (p=0.0081), and piriformis (p<0.0001); decreased pain levels for the hamstring (p=0.0274); and increased frequency of stretching after practice (p<0.0001).
Conclusions: The increased frequency of stretching suggests increased compliance toward injury prevention practices. Decreased self-reported levels of overall pain, and decreased pain in the hamstring, show that the subjects surveyed in the sample reported less pain and increased time stretching at the end of the season compared with the beginning of the season. Educational intervention offers an affordable measure to provide club collegiate athletes with resources to reduce injury rates through athlete compliance to targeted stretches.
Keywords: injury prevention; stretching; targeted exercise.
© 2023 the author(s), published by De Gruyter, Berlin/Boston.