Objective: To describe injury patterns of skateboard-associated injuries (SAIs) and to assess the frequency and severity of SAIs depending on an athlete's skateboarding experience. Design: Cross-sectional observation. Setting: Skating areas. Participants: A total of 100 Viennese skateboarders. Interventions: No intervention. Main outcome measures: The participants filled in a questionnaire that was used to assess selected sociodemographic data; duration and frequency of skateboarding; "stance"; and localization, rate, as well as the severity of SAIs during the past 24 months. Skating behavior and sociodemographic data were compared with frequency and severity of SAIs. Results: Response rate of questionnaires was 75% (n=75) of the participants. Duration of skateboarding was 8+/-5 years, and training time was 18+/-11 hours/week. A total of 97% (73) of the respondents reported at least one injury: in 52% (39) of the respondents the most serious injury was mild to moderate (laceration, contusion, strain/sprain, and bruise), whereas in 45% (34) it was severe (ligament rupture, fracture). A total of 33% (13) of participants experiencing only mild-to-moderate injuries consulted a physician compared with 94% (32) with at least one serious injury. The most severely affected regions were lower leg/ankle/foot in 32% (24) of all respondents who experienced at least one severe injury and forearm/wrist/hand in 16% (12) who experienced at least one severe injury. Only 13% (10) used protective equipment. Multivariate logistic regression for the occurrence of at least one severe injury with all socioeconomic and sport-relevant data investigated revealed significant positive correlations with weekly training time (P=.037) and years of experience (P=.021). However, after correcting for multiple testing (Bonferroni adjustment for 8 tests), no significances remained. Conclusion: More experienced skateboarders seem to have a greater risk of incurring severe SAIs, but sociodemographic factors seem to have no influence on injury risk in this population. Only a minority of skateboarders used protective equipment.
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