Medical history associated with adolescent powerlifting.

A questionnaire, designed to elicit information about the training, experience, and medical history of adolescent powerlifters, was administered to 71 contestants entered in the 1981 Michigan Teenage Powerlifting Championship. The average subject had participated in 4.1 workouts per week for 17.1 months. Each workout lasted an average of 99.2 minutes. The population sustained 98 powerlifting injuries which caused a discontinuance of training for a total of 1,126 days. The incidence and severity of pain in 13 regions of the body, as well as the site and type of powerlifting injury, were investigated. The low back region was shown to be the site with the greatest number of injuries (49). This region also had the highest percent of subjects recording an elevated occurrence and level of pain associated with powerlifting.