# Injury Incidence and Pattern in Elite Young Male and Female Trail Runners
## 4 Discussion  
This study aimed at analyzing the injury incidence in young trail runners according to the body regions, and the type, mode of onset, and moment of occurrence, both globally and disaggregated by sex. To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study of this kind with young trail runners. The results of this study showed that for 8.7 \(\pm\) 2.4 h/week of training, the percentage of injured runners is 88.2% vs. 11.8% of non-injured. [PERSON] et al. [35] analyzed the injury risk in 1190 young athletes, of which 822 had ever been injured, and concluded that those who spent a mean of 11.2 \(\pm\) 2.6 h/week had a higher injury risk (69.1%) than those who spent 9.1 \(\pm\) 6.3 h/week (30.9%). The disagreement in percentages might be because this study analyzed individual sports in general. However, the studies by [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36] on sprint, middle-distance, and long-distance runners and by [PERSON] et al. [37] on long-distance runners, showed similar values to our study, with an accident rate of 65.0% and 62.5%, respectively. A recent study carried out by [PERSON] et al. [38] with trail runners, indicated that the percentage of injured people per 1000 h of training was 49.5%, which is not in line with the percentage of 88.2% obtained in our study. The reason can be found in that the study analyzed popular runners, who were older and performed tests of different distances (38 km, 65 km, and 100 km) which made the way of training and race rhythms very different. In fact, the same research group concluded in another study [39] that the percentage of injured people was 67.1%. The study of [PERSON] [40] with professional orienteering runners, a sport with similar characteristics to trail running in terms of conditions and terrain, showed an accident rate of 74.2%. Therefore, as suggested by [PERSON], [PERSON], and [PERSON] [41], the increase in professionalization and the practice of sports have led to a rise in the number of injuries. The mean number of injuries in our study of 2.2 \(\pm\) 1.8 per 1000 h of training is in line with [PERSON] and [PERSON] [36], who indicated 2.5 per 1000 h in long-distance runners, and [PERSON] [40], who reported 3 per 1000 h in orienteering \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{l c c c c c c c} \hline  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**All**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Male**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Female**} & \\  & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**(_n_ = 95)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**(_n_ = 70)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**(_n_ = 25)**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{_p_} & **ES (\(\varphi\))** \\ \cline{2-7}  & **\%** & **(_n_)** & **\%** & **(_n_)** & **\%** & **(_n_)** & \\ \hline Joint sprain & 43.2 \# & (41) & 48.6 \# & (34) & 28.0 & (7) & 0.074 & 0.183 \\ Tendinopathy & 18.9 \# & (18) & 18.6 \# & (13) & 20.0 & (5) & 0.875 & 0.876 \\ Muscle injury & 6.3 & (6) & 4.3 & (3) & 12.0 & (3) & 0.184 & 0.140 \\ Muscle confusion & 5.3 & (5) & 7.1 & (5) & 0.0 & (0) & 0.321 & 0.141 \\ Laceration & 4.2 & (4) & 1.4 & (1) & 12.0 & (3) & 0.055 & 0.232 \\ Bone fracture & 4.2 & (4) & 5.7 & (4) & 0.0 & (0) & 0.570 & 0.125 \\ Joint dislocation & 4.2 & (4) & 4.3 & (3) & 4.0 & (1) & 1.000 & 0.006 \\ Abrasion & 2.1 & (2) & 2.9 & (2) & 0.0 & (0) & 1.000 & 0.088 \\ Non-specific & 11.6 & (11) & 7.1 & (5) & 24.0 & (6) & 0.034 \({}^{*}\) & 0.232 \\ \hline \end{tabular} \({}^{*}\) Significant differences between male and female trail runners (\(p\) < 0.05); \(\#\) significant differences between diagnoses (\(p\) < 0.05).  
\end{table} 
Table 3: Diagnosis of injuries in male and female trail runners. runners. Conversely, a review work on injury rate in different types of runners reported between 7.7 and 17.8 occurrences per 1000 h [13]. In this review, most of the studies computed the hours based on the injuries suffered during competition, where the athletes risk the most, and consequently, with greater occurrence in terms of the ratio exposure time to injuries produced.