Descriptive Epidemiology, Medical Evaluation, and Outcomes of Rock Climbing Injuries

ObjectiveTo gather epidemiologic data on injury type, treatment, and recovery from rock climbing injuries.MethodsDesign: retrospective cross-sectional study. Setting: web-based survey. Participants: rock climbers who sustained a climbing-related injury during the prior 24 months. Criteria for inclusion: aged ≥18 years; participation in rock climbing at least 4 times per year in the United States. Interventions: none. Main outcome measures: percentage of injured climbers seeking medical care, providers seen, subspecialty referral, development of chronic problems, factors affecting return to climbing, injuries by climbing type, body region, and injury type.ResultsData were collected over a 60-day period using the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap) survey system. Seven hundred and eight surveys were collected from 553 male and 155 female climbers. Thirteen hundred ninety seven injuries were reported, and 975 injuries were suitable for analysis. The most common provider initially seen was a primary care provider. Subspecialty referral was commonly obtained. Injury patterns differed by climbing type. The percentage of respondents that returned to climbing before their injury was fully healed was 51.1%, and 44.9% of respondents developed chronic problems related to their climbing injury. Twenty-eight percent of respondents were unable to return to their previous level of climbing performance. Several factors were associated with delayed recovery from climbing injury.ConclusionsA significant number of climbers sought healthcare after injury. A majority of climbers who sought treatment were referred to subspecialist providers. About one-half of climbers were symptomatic when they returned to climbing and developed chronic problems after injury. Factors associated with slower return to climbing included increasing age, smoking, fractures, and surgery.