Sport Specialization in Middle- and High-School Long-Distance Runners.

CONTEXT: Previous reports suggest high-specialized adolescent athletes may be at a higher risk of injury, worse sleep quality, and lower sport enjoyment than low-specialized athletes. Currently, sport specialization literature is primarily composed of adolescent athletes from a variety of sports. However, it is unknown if the findings on sport specialization from predominantly non-running athletes are generalizable to adolescent long-distance runners.
OBJECTIVE: Compare injury history, running volume, quality of life, sleep habits, and running enjoyment among male and female middle- and high-school long-distance runners from different sport specialization levels.
DESIGN: Cross-sectional.
SETTING: Online survey. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 102 male (age=15.8±0.9 years) and 157 female (age=15.6±1.4 years) uninjured middle- and high-school athletes who participated in long-distance running activities (completion rate=50.7%). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Participants were stratified by sex and sport specialization level (low, moderate, high). Group differences in self-reported running-related injuries, EQ-5D-Y quality of life, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index sleep quality, sleep duration, running habits, and running enjoyment were assessed.
RESULTS: High-specialized male and female middle- and high-school long-distance runners reported competing more months per year (p<0.001), higher weekly run distance (p<0.001), more runs per week (p<0.001), higher average distance per run (p<0.001), and higher running enjoyment (p<0.001) than low-specialized runners. Males reported higher average weekly run distance (p=0.01), higher average distance per run (p=0.01), and better sleep quality (p=0.01) than females. No differences among sport specialization were found for running-related injuries (p=0.25), quality of life (p=0.07), sleep quality (p=0.19), or sleep duration (p=0.11) among male or female middle- and high-school runners.
CONCLUSIONS: High-specialized male and female middle- and high-school long-distance runners reported higher running volumes and running enjoyment than low-specialized runners. However, high-specialized runners did not report a greater number of running-related injuries, lower quality of life, or lower sleep quality or duration as expected. © by the National Athletic Trainers' Association, Inc.