A unique study on injury surveyed 104 Swedish sub elite powerlifters. The study is unique because it defined injury as a condition that causes pain and affects training in some minor way. By this definition, 70% of respondents were injured.
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The “classic” definition of injury is otherwise an event that causes someone to STOP training. Using this definition, injuries are much less common but still occur 1-2 times per year, on average, per lifter.
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This is why DEFINITIONS are important to keep in mind when interpreting research.
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Even though the population is small, Eric Helms felt confident about the following conclusions:
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1) minor injuries are a lot more common among those who lift heavy weights than previous data would indicate
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2) women tend to get more neck and thoracic injuries than men
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3) men may sustain more lumbopelvic injuries than women
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4) generally,powerlifters who are injured work around injury by reducing their training frequency overall or on specific lifts that aggravate injuries (sometimes in ways you might not expect – like benching less with hip injuries because maybe arching causes pain?)
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5) deadlifts cause most lumbopelvic injuries, and bench press causes most shoulder
injuries
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6) as you get stronger in the deadlift, your overall risk of injury very slightly increases.
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7) it’s probably a good idea to moderate your alcohol intake and follow a healthy, performance-supporting diet as it may reduce injury occurrence (these two lifestyle variables had the highest odds ratios).
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THE EVIDENCE: Strömbäck et al. Prevalence and Consequences of Injuries in Powerlifting: A Cross-sectional Study. SAGE Journals: Your gateway to world-class journal research