Prevalence and features of joint hypermobility among adolescent athletes
L. C. Decoster, J. C. Vailas, R. H. Lindsay and G. R. Williams
Healthsouth Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation/New Hampshire Musculoskeletal Institute, Manchester, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence of joint hypermobility in a group of
adolescent, interscholastic athletes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional; descriptive
or observational. SETTING: Free preparticipation physical examinations for
sports. SUBJECTS: Two hundred and sixty-four athletes (150 male, 114
female; average age, 15.5 years) comprised the entire set of athletes who
came to our clinic for free physical examinations. INTERVENTION AND MAIN
OUTCOME MEASURES: We screened 264 athletes using the widely accepted
Carter-Wilkinson-Beighton method, which examines range of motion at the
knees, trunk, fingers, thumbs, and elbows bilaterally and employs a 0 to 9
scoring scheme (5 = hypermobile). We also used an "injury allowance,"
whereby if an athlete screened positive for only one side of a bilateral
test but had a history of injury to the corresponding side, he or she was
given an injury allowance point. RESULTS: Thirty-two scored 5 or higher,
with another 2 screening positive for hypermobility by the injury
allowance, for a total of 34 hypermobile athletes (12.9%). There was a
highly significant difference between sexes (P < .001), with 25 female
(22%) and 9 male subjects (6%) testing positive. CONCLUSIONS: The overall
prevalence of hypermobility and the significant sex difference found in
this group of adolescent athletes were similar to nonathletes populations
of comparable age. Research on nonathletes has been relied on by many to
recommend that hypermobile persons avoid strenuous physical activity;
however, research on athletes is less than conclusive. Given that a
significant segment of young athletes, especially females, may be
hypermobile, prospective studies are warranted to investigate this question
before we can justify depriving hypermobile youths of the many known
benefits of regular or strenuous exercise.
