• I competed in my first bodybuilding show in May 2016, soon after I competed in my first powerlifting meet in August 2016. I have been lifting in a “bodybuilding style” for six years now and went completely injury free. However, this was not the case when I tried powerlifting for approximately four months. Shortly after my powerlifting meet I tore my left spinal erector. There were many factors involved in this injury but I truly believe this would have never occurred if I had just stuck only to a bodybuilding style of training. Strength sports (such as crossfit, powerlifting, Olympic weightlifting, and bodybuilding) all have a connotation that injury quickly follows participation in each of these sports. Although this may be true, I hypothesize that bodybuilding has the lowest amount of injuries compared to the other strength sports. I plan to research data to find the rate of injuries experienced for each sport in a specific amount of time participating.

• I am interested in possibly going further to explore the reasons the human body gets injured with certain movements over others. The knowledge I hope to gain from this project could greatly influence my preparedness for a hopeful education and career in Physical Therapy. I want to work as a Sports Physical Therapist so this project topic is the pinnacle of all my interests – bodybuilding, function of the human body in sports, and rate of injury.

• I completed quiz 1, in R markdown, with data I had found on this topic. I look to be able to finish this project and analyze the data found completely in R markdown. Once this is done I would love to send this project in with my eventual application to Physical Therapy school.

• I also noticed I may be able to add information I am learning in my current Anatomy and Physiology class to this project. For example, I mentioned earlier I would like to possibly go further and explore the reason certain injuries occur over others.

• I could apply the fact that shoulder injuries are more likely to occur then knee injuries because this joint can move in triaxial planes, whereas the knee joint cannot move in that many planes. The more a joint is able to move, the less strength the ligaments provide to this area (making it weaker and more susceptible to injury). Furthermore, it may be interesting to include this when I add how common shoulder injuries occur to the R markdown file for the project.

The mean, median, and mode of each sports rate of injury per 1,000 hours of work from the 12 studies (from all the data in all the sports):

• Mean: 2.2
• Median: 2.6
• Mode: N/A

Most common region of injury from the 12 studies:

• Lower back (lumbar region): 4
• Shoulder: 6
• Low back and Shoulder: 1
• Not specified: 1

The previous information is from the whole set of data from the 12 studies

The upcoming information is the data breakdown for each sport

Instead of combining an uneven number of studies, due to the fact that this would lead to an inaccurate finding – I used the average of the studies of an individual sport to represent the rate and location of injury for that particular sport.

Powerlifting:

Rate of injury per 1,000 hours - 4.40, 3.70, 2.60, 1.10, 1.00, .84

Location of injury – Shoulder (4), Lower back/lumbar region (1), Lower back and shouler (1)

• Mean: 2.27
• Median: 1.85
• Mode: N/A

Strongman: (no mean, median,and mode because only 1 study was given in the data set)

Rate of injury per 1,000 hours – 5.50

Location of injury – lower back/lumbar region

Olympic Lifting:

Rate of injury per 1,000 hours – 3.30, 2.60

Location of injury – Lower back/lumbar region (2)

• Mean: 2.95
• Median: 2.95 - Mode: N/A

Crossfit: (no mean, median, and mode because only1 study was present in the data set)

Rate of injury per 1,000 hours – 3.10 Location of injury – Shoulder

Bodybuilding:

Rate of injury per 1,000 hours – 1.00, .24

Location of injury – Not specified, shoulder

• Mean: .62
• Median: .62
• Mode: N/A

Powerlifting: 2.27 (mean of rate) – most common location of injury is the shoulder

Strongman: 5.50 (rate for only study given) – most common location of injury is the lower back/lumbar region

Olympic Lifting: 2.95 (mean of rate) – most common location of injury is the lower back/lumbar region

Crossfit: 3.10 (rate of only study given) – most common location of injury is the shoulder

Bodybuilding: .62 (mean of rate) – most common location of injury is the shoulder

• There were more studies written on the rate and location of injuries for powerlifting (total of 6 studies). While Olympic lifting and Bodybuilding both had two studies written on their rate and location of injuries, while Crossfit and Strongman only had 1. The reason these sports all have different amounts of studies written about them could be for several reasons. I first hypothesized that the reason more studies were written about Powerlifting was simply due to the fact that this sport shows more frequency of injury then any other strength sport. Eventually, I began to assume my original hypothesis was incorrect due to the fact that I began to hypothesize more injuries occurred in Crossift and Strongman then Powerlifting and the only reason this sport has 6 studies written about it was due to the increased popularity of the sport compared to the other two.

• The next reason I am assuming there is an uneven amount of studied listed for these sports could be for a similar reason as I listed earlier, Powerlifting has more competing athletes then the other sports. With a minimal amount of athletes competing in Crossfit and Strongman (compared to Powerlifting, Olympic Weightlifting, and Bodybuilding). However, the data is still relevant due to the fact that it lists an average of injury occurring at a constant rate of 1,000 hours in the designated sport.

• This data really intrigued me. I was able to study something I enjoy doing as a hobby and use knowledge from my classes to interpret the data I found. I applied anatomical and physiological information to further expand everything I read and statistics techniques to simplify the set of data for further explanation. I would love to see this information expanded. I would ensure each sport would have the same amount of studies that are completed in the same time frames – because heat or cold can affect injury. If one group of athletes were being studied in the winter, where joints have been proven to show less lubrication, while the other athletes are studied in the spring/summer the results may not be accurate. Next, I would like to see that each participant across each sport would include consistent and thorough flexibility training.

• The data could be inconsistent if one athlete stretches and the other does not – so by making all athletes do the same stretches it will ensure the results are more accurate. Lastly, it is important to ensure that each sport will still be measured per 1,000 hours of work. If one sport does more work then the next injury may be more likely to occur and, again, results could be inaccurate.

• Out of all five sports three of them had shoulder injuries that were most common. This is where I began to apply my knowledge of anatomy and physiology. The shoulder joint is the weakest and, therefore, the most susceptible to injury out of every other joint in the body. The presence of the labrum in the shoulder (which is also present in the hip joint) allows the humerus to fit properly into the acromion and coracoid process of the scapula. What gives the shoulder joint its biggest disadvantage is the fact that the humerus is hanging to the axial skeleton by the ligaments and tendons that attach it to the processes of the scapula. The hip joint, however, is more stable because the head of the femur (or the ball at the top of the bone) is entirely surrounded by the acetabulum (the hole where the ball of the femur fits).

• The shoulder joint does not have this advantage of security; the humerus does not entirely fit into the acromion and coracoid process of the scapula, therefore, requiring the ligaments, tendons, and labrum to maintain the shoulder girdle’s strength. Secondly, I noticed the other common area for injury in these sports (two out of the five of the sports) was the lumbar spine. This area is prone to injury for a few reasons; it does a lot of twisting, lifting, and bending. However, the lumbar spine is not made to endure significant amounts of twisting, twisting of the spine should be located only in the thoracic spine. For all the pressure and strain this portion of the spine endures, it has the least amount of structural support – making it incredibly prone to injury.

• This project was inspired by a data set including rates of injuries for different strength sports. I used previous knowledge of sports, injuries, anatomy and physiology, and statistics. I was able to compare the injuries in each sport and the location of each injury per sport after simplifying some of the data with finding the mean, median, and mode. After the application of statistics, I was able to determine which injury locations were most common. From here, I used knowledge of athletics and anatomy and physiology to determine why these injuries were most common. Lastly, I was able to determine the parts of this study/data set I thought were flawed and how I would improve them.

• https://www.strengthandconditioningresearch.com/2014/07/08/injury-strength-sports/

• https://www.t-nation.com/training/4-most-common-injuries-for-lifters

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1322916/