Musculoskeletal Pain Among E-sport Athletes

NCT ID: NCT03910517

Last Updated: 2019-07-09

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Total Enrollment

208 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2019-03-27

Study Completion Date

2019-04-26

Brief Summary

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Background:

Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain and injuries are common in endurance sports where athletes are required to perform at high intensity for long periods of time. In the short term, MSK pain may significantly impair the athletes' performance, which can lead to unwanted time-off from practice and competitive tournaments. Previous studies found an association between training load, MSK pain and performance. These results indicate that an athlete may experience MSK pain or get injured from both too low and to high training loads.

Electronic sports (E-sports), also known as competitive gaming, is defined by Hamari and Sjöblom as "a form of sports where the primary aspects of the sport is facilitated by electronic systems; the input of players and teams as well as the output of the E-sports system are mediated by human-computer interference".

There are only few data on MSK pain in E-sports, however a small study with 65 participants found that 41% suffered from back or neck pain and more than 1 in 3 had pain related to the wrist. E-sports athletes have to perform for an extended period of time, similar to athletes from traditional endurance sport. As such, MSK pain in E-sports may be associated with training load like it is seen in other sports. Therefore, MSK pain in E-sports could be an unrecognised issue. To provide health professionals with and optimal starting point for managing these issues, there is a need for well-conducted studies on the prevalence of MSK pain among E-sports athletes. In addition, it is highly relevant to investigate if training loads related to E-sports and physical activity levels are different among athletes with MSK pain compared to athletes without MSK pain.

Aims:

The aims of this questionnaire-based cross-sectional study are to; I) investigate the prevalence of MSK pain in E-sports athletes, II) assess if training loads among athletes with MSK pain are different from athletes without MSK pain, III) investigate if physical activity levels among athletes with MSK pain are different from athletes without MSK pain and IIII) descriptively present data on participant characteristics, sleep patterns, physical activity levels and utilization of health professionals and pain medication in the study population.

Detailed Description

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Data analysis:

The prevalence of MSK pain within the study population will be presented in absolute numbers and as percentage values. To investigate if E-sport related training loads differ among athletes with and without MSK pain we will use total E-sport related training load (N hours spend on structured E-sport + N hours spend on unstructured E-sport). An independent sample t-test will be applied for this comparison if data are normally distributed. To assess if physical activity levels are different among athletes with and without MSK pain we will use the responses from the IPAQ short form. For this comparison we will use an independent sample t-test or the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Participant characteristics, distribution and number of MSK pain sites, utilization of health professionals and pain medicine, physical activity levels, training loads and sleep patterns will be presented descriptively. The data will be presented with means, standard deviations and 95% confidence intervals. Non-parametric data will be presented with absolute numbers and as percentage values, medians and range.

Conditions

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Musculoskeletal Pain

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

COHORT

Study Time Perspective

CROSS_SECTIONAL

Study Groups

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E-sport athletes

People aged 15-35 who engage in structured E-sport (e.g. community-based, pro team or educational setting).

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

No intervention

Interventions

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No intervention

No intervention

Intervention Type OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Age 15-35
* Engaged in E-sport at an educational institution, a community-based team or a pro-team.
* Participating in E-sport through a computer-based game.

Exclusion Criteria

* Not providing written informed consent prior to enrolment.
Minimum Eligible Age

15 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

35 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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University College of Northern Denmark

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Christian Lund Straszek

Assistant lecturer

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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E-Sport clubs and/or team based in the community, at an educational institution or in a private organization i Denmark

Aalborg, , Denmark

Site Status

Countries

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Denmark

References

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Johnston R, Cahalan R, O'Keeffe M, O'Sullivan K, Comyns T. The associations between training load and baseline characteristics on musculoskeletal injury and pain in endurance sport populations: A systematic review. J Sci Med Sport. 2018 Sep;21(9):910-918. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2018.03.001. Epub 2018 Mar 14.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 29559317 (View on PubMed)

Gabbett TJ. The training-injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder? Br J Sports Med. 2016 Mar;50(5):273-80. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2015-095788. Epub 2016 Jan 12.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26758673 (View on PubMed)

Juho Hamari, Max Sjöblom, What is eSports and why do people watch it? Internet Res. 2017

Reference Type BACKGROUND

DiFrancisco-Donoghue J, Balentine J, Schmidt G, Zwibel H. Managing the health of the eSport athlete: an integrated health management model. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2019 Jan 10;5(1):e000467. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000467. eCollection 2019.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 30792883 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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Project E-sport

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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