Injury epidemiology in male and female competitive diving athletes: A four-year observational study

Objectives: To describe the incidence, severity, burden and sport specific characteristics of injuries reported in elite diving athletes.

Design: Descriptive epidemiology study.

Methods: Medical attention and time-loss injuries from 63 (43 female, 20 male) Australian national diving programme athletes were prospectively collected over four seasons (September 2018-August 2022). Injury incidence rates and burden were calculated, standardised per 365 athlete days, and compared across groups using negative binomial generalised linear models.

Results: In total 421 injuries were reported (female = 292, male = 129) at an injury incidence rate of 2.36 (95 % confidence interval = 2.14-2.60) per 365 athlete days. Annual injury prevalence ranged from 70.0 to 85.1 %. Approximately two-thirds of injuries (67.2 %) resulted in a period of time-loss. The overall injury burden was 91 days of absence (95 % confidence interval = 81-102) per 365 athlete days. Stress fractures in springboard diving athletes incurred the largest mean days of time-loss compared to other injured tissue types. The majority of injuries were reported to occur during training (79.3 %) as opposed to competition (2.4 %), with more than half (55.3 %) of all reported injuries occurring during pool training sessions. Water entry (30.4 %) or take-off (27.8 %) were the most frequently reported mechanism of injury.

Conclusions: Annual injury prevalence reported in competitive Australian diving athletes was found to be high. Contrary to existing literature, competitive diving injuries were reported to occur within the daily training environment, with few injuries occurring during competition. Notable injury differences between springboard and platform athletes were observed.