CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Int J Sports Med 2023; 44(04): 247-257
DOI: 10.1055/a-1953-6317
Review

Risk Factors for Musculoskeletal Injury in CrossFit: A Systematic Review

1   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
,
Robert Kaspar Wagner
2   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3   Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Sports, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
4   Academic Center for Evidence-based Sports medicine (ACES), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
,
Gwendolyn Vuurberg
2   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3   Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Sports, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
4   Academic Center for Evidence-based Sports medicine (ACES), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
,
Vincent Gouttebarge
2   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Amsterdam UMC location University of Amsterdam, Department of Orthopedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
3   Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Sports, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
4   Academic Center for Evidence-based Sports medicine (ACES), Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Amsterdam, Netherlands
5   Section Sports Medicine, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
,
Robert-Jan de Vos
1   Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, Erasmus MC University Medical Centre, Rotterdam, Netherlands
,
Nina Maria Cornelia Mathijssen
6   Reinier Haga Orthopedic Center, Zoetermeer, Netherlands
› Author Affiliations

Abstract

The objective of this systematic review was to identify potential risk factors for injury in CrossFit participants. Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane, CINAHL, Google Scholar, and SportDiscuss databases were all searched up to June 2021. Cohort studies that investigated risk factors for CrossFit injuries requiring medical attention or leading to time loss in sports were included. A best-evidence synthesis was performed combining all the outcomes from prospective cohort studies. From 9,452 publications identified, we included three prospective cohort studies from which two had a low risk of bias and one a high risk of bias. The studies examined 691 participants of whom 172 sustained an injury. There was limited evidence that switching between prescribed and scaled loads during training is associated with increased injury risk and that increased duration of participation is a protective factor for injury. This could mean that novice CrossFit athletes and those increasing their training load should have closer supervision by CrossFit coaches. These risk factors should be considered when developing preventive interventions.

These authors contributed equally.


Supplementary Material



Publication History

Received: 26 April 2022

Accepted: 27 September 2022

Accepted Manuscript online:
29 September 2022

Article published online:
23 December 2022

© 2021. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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