Prevalence of Acute Injuries in Amateur and Elite Mountain Bikers
Conditions: Acute Injury in Mountain Biking
Sponsor: University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland

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Prevalence of Acute Injuries in Amateur and Elite 
Mountain Bikers 
 
 
Study Type: 
Study Design: 
Complete anonymous questionnaire 
Cross-sectional observational study 
Study Categorisation: 
N/A 
Study Registration: 
ClincialTrials.gov  
NTC03690219 
Sponsor: 
Thim van der Laan, Thim van der Laan AG,  
Weststrasse 8, 7302 Landquart 
+41 81 300 01 70 
Principal Investigator: 
 
Dr. Ron Clijsen, PhD 
University of Applied Sciences of Southern Switzerland SUPSI,  
Rehabilitation and Exercise Science Laboratory (RESlab), 
Weststrasse 8, 7302 Landquart 
+41 81 300 01 75 
Protocol ID 
According to Article 25 of the Human Research Ordinance, this 
anonymous questionnaire does not require ethics approval.  
Protocol Version and Date: 
Version 01 (dated xxx) 
 
 
 
 
CONFIDENTIAL 
The information contained in this document is confidential and the property of the sponsor. The 
information may not - in full or in part - be transmitted, reproduced, published, or disclosed to others 
than Regulatory Authority(ies) without prior written authorisation from the sponsor except to the extent 
necessary to obtain informed consent from those who will participate in the study. 
 
 

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1. Introduction 
Mountain biking has developed into a popular sport performed by both amateurs and professionals. 
Physical activity is often related to an increasing risk of injury which may lead to high socioeconomic 
costs. To avoid accident-related injuries, each racing discipline demands its own set of specific skills 
and training regimens. The aim of this study is to perform a descriptive analysis of the causes and effects 
of mountain biking related injuries in amateur and professional athletes. 
 
2. Methods 
A survey (as outlined below) of mountain biking related injuries will be conducted on the participants of 
the Swiss Epic mountain bike event in 2017 held in Valais. The retrospective questionnaire is designed 
in accordance with existing literature ((Gaulrapp et al., 2001; Lareau and McGinnis, 2011), will include 
25 questions and will be translated into English, French, Italian, Spanish and German. The participants 
will be asked to tick the most appropriate answer. The questionnaire aimes to assess the athletes’ 1) 
basic demographics, riding level and years of experience, 2) number of races per year and mean hours 
of training per week, 3) number and kind of suffered injuries related to mountain biking and medical 
treatment requirement, 4) and amount and kind of protective gear items. 
 
3. Statistical analysis plan  
Data analyses will be performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 24.0 
(IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA).  
Descriptive statistics [means ± standard deviations (SD) and relative frequencies (%)] will be retrieved. 
Pearson correlations will be used to assess correlations between the outcome variables. Chi-squared 
tests will be applied to determine group differences of injury prevalence and the occurrence of severe, 
respectively mild injury events. Multivariate logistic regressions will be performed to evaluate predictive 
factors among the outcome variables (independent variables) of severe injury events (dependent 
variable; no severe injury = 0 versus severe injury = 1) in elites and amateurs separately. Independent 
samples t-tests will be used to evaluate mean group differences in demographics, and training and injury 
related variables between the elite and the amateur mountain bikers. P-values < 0.05 will be considered 
as statistically significant. According to Cohen (1992), effect sizes will be calculated for the correlation 
analyses and defined as follows; r = 0.20 small, r = 0.50 medium, r = 0.80 strong.  
 
 

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