Training habits and lower limb injury prevention in parkour practitioners

Abstract

Parkour consists of overcoming obstacles mostly in an urban landscape. Little is known regarding usual training habits and injury risks of traceurs, i.e., parkour practitioners. In this study, a 20-min survey have been fulfilled by a population of traceurs regarding training load, habits (type of warm up, physical conditioning, stretching), type of footwear, and number and type of ankle- and knee-injuries during their career. A total of 180 responses were analyzed (24.4 ± 5.9 years old, 21.7% female, 6.0 ± 3.9 years of experience). Participants reported to train 1 to 7 times per week for a mean duration of 2.2 h. 76% practiced stretching exercises. 75.6% practiced physical conditioning in addition to their parkour training (weightlifting, functional exercises). Injury rate was 1.7 per 1000 h of training, mostly ankle sprains and knee contusions. Number of injury and training load were positively correlated. The lack of physical conditioning was also a factor of injury. Knee injuries have been more frequent on participants wearing minimalist shoes. Although training appears well auto-organized and the injury rate quite low some pitfalls require attention, notably in training planning, warm-up, stretching and conditioning. Building training and coaching methods specific to parkour appears essential.