PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Gudmund Grønhaug
TI  - Lean and mean? Associations of level of performance, chronic injuries and BMI in sport climbing
AID  - 10.1136/bmjsem-2018-000437
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine
PG  - e000437
VI  - 5
IP  - 1
4099  - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000437.short
4100  - http://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/5/1/e000437.full
SO  - BMJ OPEN SP EX MED2019 Jan 01; 5
AB  - Objectives To assess possible associations between performance level (achieved level of difficulty), chronic injuries and body mass index (BMI) in sport climbing.Method Retrospective survey.Setting Web-based questionnaire.Participants 667 active climbers (385 reported having chronic injuries).Outcome measure BMI, performance level in sport climbing, onset of a climbing-related injury, preferred style of climbing, education, gender.Statistics Descriptive statistics and general linear model(GLM) performed with SPSS V.25 for windows.Result No associations were found between level of performance in sport climbing, onset of a climbing-related injury, preferred style of climbing, education, gender and BMI.Conclusion BMI is not associated with climbing-related chronic injury or level of performance in climbing. The average BMI of climbers up to the elite level is similar to that of a lower rate of performance.Clinical relevance The findings in this study suggest that there is no need for maintaining a low BMI to be able to reach elite levels in climbing.