Hurt on the Hill: A Longitudinal Analysis of Obstacle Course Racing Injuries

Abstract

Background: Obstacle course racing (OCR) has become a popular sport in recent years as it challenges participants’ mental and physical endurance through a combination of trail running and obstacles. There is currently only a limited amount of published work reporting injury types or rates at these events. Purpose: This study aims to build on the current literature, analyzing injury rates and patterns at OCR events. Methods: A secondary data analysis of deidentified medical charts from 33 OCR events in Canada from 2015 to 2017 was conducted. The scope of on-site care was first aid. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Results: A total of 1782 injuries occurred over 3 seasons from 73,366 participants, with an overall average injury rate of 2.4%; 1.0% (n = 17) of injuries required emergency medical services transport to a local emergency department, and the majority of these injuries were musculoskeletal in nature. The most common injuries treated were lacerations and musculoskeletal-related injuries; 93.9% of the injuries were able to be treated on site. These findings, in conjunction with the published literature, suggest that OCR medical teams should anticipate injury rates of up to 5.0% and a transportation rate of approximately 4.5% of those injuries to local emergency departments. Conclusion: The injury and transportation rates found in this study are congruent with the current literature and, most notably, they demonstrated a stable trend across a variety of course lengths (5-42 km ) and numbers of obstacles (≥20). While the majority of injuries may be treated on site, there is still a serious potential for life-threatening emergencies to occur.