The Association of Finger Growth Plate Injury History and Speed Climbing in Youth Competition Climbers

• Published in: Wilderness & environmental medicine Vol. 31; no. 4; pp. 394 - 399
• Main Authors: Meyers, Rachel N., Howell, David R., Provance, Aaron J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Elsevier Inc 01.12.2020; SAGE Publications
• Subjects: Adolescent; Athletic Injuries - etiology; Athletic Injuries - pathology; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; epiphyseal fracture; Female; Fingers; Humans; Male; Mountaineering - injuries; Olympics; rock climbing; Salter-Harris Fractures - etiology; skeletally immature; Sports; rock climbing; adolescent; epiphyseal fracture; Olympics; skeletally immature
• ISSN: 1080-6032; 1545-1534
• DOI: 10.1016/j.wem.2020.06.008

Finger growth plate injuries are the most common injury among youth climbers, and the association between these injuries and speed climbing, a mandatory discipline in the 2021 Olympics, has not been examined previously. Our primary purpose was to examine the demographic and training characteristics of adolescent competition climbers who reported a history of a finger growth plate injury compared to those who did not report a history of a finger growth plate injury. Our secondary purpose was to determine whether training characteristics differed between adolescent competition climbers who did and did not report speed climbing. Our study was a cross-sectional study design. We surveyed adolescent climbers who competed in the 2017 USA Climbing Sport and Speed Youth National Championships. Questions assessed climbing injury history and current rock-climbing training characteristics. Two-hundred sixty-seven adolescent competition climbers, 14±3 (9–18) y of age (mean±SD with range), completed the survey. Those with a history of a finger growth plate injury reported greater approximate time spent speed climbing throughout the year (β=1.28, 95% CI 0.11–2.46, P=0.032) and training regularly on the International Federation of Sport Climbing speed wall (adjusted odds ratio=3.95, 95% CI 1.14–13.7, P=0.031). Training regularly at practices on the speed wall was associated with a self-reported history of finger growth plate injuries among elite youth competition climbers. Speed climbing should be limited, especially during periods of rapid growth.