Orthopaedic injuries in equestrian sports
Despite the dangers posed by this sport and its wide-spread popularity, literature on injury patterns in equestrian sports are sparse. In this systematic review the authors focused on the orthopaedic injuries in horse riding.
Orthopaedic injuries were defined as fractures or dislocations. This review helps characterize the epidemiology of equestrian injuries based on a literature search from 1978 to 2014.
An extensive literature search yielded 209 articles of which 27 were included in this review. The lack of consensus and the differences between studies indicate the need for a more standardized and clearly defined approach to estimating injury incidence in equestrian sports.
The experience level of the rider was not related to the risk of injury. Most injuries occurred in female riders. In all studies, a fall from a horse was the leading cause of injury. Of all orthopaedic injuries, fractures of the upper extremities were most common; the second-most reported were fractures of the lower extremities and followed by fractures of the trunk.
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> From: Young et al., Orthop J Sports Med. 3 (2017) 2325967115603924. All rights reserved to The Author(s). Click here for the online summary.
