Inflluence of Education on Awareness of Sports Specialization and Injury Prevention Recommendations among Health Care Providers

Background: Sport specialization has been linked with overuse injury in youth sports, leading to the development of specific recommendations to reduce injury risk. However, the incorporation of these recommendations into formal educational and professional development of healthcare providers (HCP), and their effectiveness for raising HCP awareness of this topic, is unknown. Objective: To determine associations between formal education or professional development regarding overuse injury prevention and awareness of current recommendations among HCPs caring for youth athletes. Methods: This was a cross-sectional design using an online survey to assess HCP awareness of sports specialization recommendations pertaining to focused sport and participation volume. Emails were sent to 15313 HCPs, with the survey accessed by 810 respondents (access rate=5.2%) and 806 HCPs were included in the analysis (female N=453, 56.4%, mean age: 39.9 +/- 11.2 years old). Participants included 378 (46.9%) athletic trainers (AT), 123 (15.3%) nurse practitioners (NP), 36 (4.5%) physical therapists (PT), and 269 (33.4%) physicians (PHYS). Participants self -reported whether they received training on prevention of overuse injuries during their formal education and if they had completed any professional development regarding overuse injury prevention. Results: Participants who received formal training during their professional education were more likely to report awareness of recommendations regarding months per year of single sport participation, maximum hours per week of organized sport participation, and simultaneous participation on multiple teams. Participants who reported completing professional development were more likely to report being aware of recommendations regarding months per year of single sport participation, maximum hours per week of organized sport participation, and simultaneous participation on multiple teams. Conclusion: HCPs who received training on overuse injury prevention during formal education or continuing professional development were more likely to be aware of overuse injury prevention recommendations compared with those who did not.