Rock Climbing Injuries in the Youth Population

Background Rock climbing is an increasingly popular sport worldwide and will debut in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics. Climbing places unique physical demands on pediatric athletes and carries inherent risks of injury. In many other sports, specialization has been shown to have deleterious effects on athletes, but this has not been studied within youth climbing. Additionally, few studies have explored injury epidemiology and risk factors in the pediatric climbing population. Our purpose was to evaluate how specialization and other potential risk factors are associated with injury and burnout in the pediatric climber. Methods Eighty-seven climbers (ages 8-18) were recruited from competitive youth teams throughout the US. Participants completed a one-time anonymous online survey (REDCap) regarding climbing experience, training patterns, injury history, and sleep habits. The survey was designed by the study team and face-validated by experienced climbers and coaches. Early specialization was defined as exclusive participation in climbing, with training for >8 months/year, prior to age 12. Burnout was defined as loss of enjoyment in climbing or desire to quit the sport. T-tests, one-way ANOVA, and chi-squared tests were calculated utilizing Jamovi statistical software. Results Participants (N=87, mean age: 13.6 ± 2.7, 53 females) were high-level climbers, with 44% competing at the national level or higher. 63% of participants specialized in climbing, 70% of whom specialized early. Participants trained on average for 9.5 ± 4.5 hours/week and 11.7 ± 0.7 months/year. Nineteen percent of participants were considered to be overtraining (training hours/week >age or >16); however, overtraining was not associated with an increase in injuries (p=0.58) or burnout (p=0.74). The majority of injuries (60%) were considered minor (<7 days to recovery), while 9% were considered serious (>3 months to recovery). Ankle, hand, and finger injuries occurred most commonly (Table 1). 84% of all injuries occurred during bouldering, largely due to falling. Early and late specialized climbers sustained more injuries over a 12-month period compared to non-specialized athletes (p=0.03, Table 2). Climbers who reported poor sleep quality or symptoms of burnout experienced more total climbing-related injuries than their peers (p=0.04, p=0.01, respectively). Climbers who reported poor sleep quality were also more likely to report burnout than those with average or better sleep quality (p=0.001). Conclusions Our results indicate that specialization is common among elite youth climbers and is associated with an increased injury rate. Poor sleep quality in climbers was associated with increased injuries and burnout. Although the overall injury incidence in our study was relatively low, several climbers reported serious injuries, and almost 30% reported experiencing burnout. Further investigations are being conducted to examine potential effects of common training and injury prevention techniques, with the goal of promoting the health and well-being of youth climbers.