Incidence and Risk of Sports Injuries in Registered Athletes in Mazandaran Province; Reports of the Years Before and After COVID- 19 Pandemic

 Background and purpose: World condition has changed since the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged and its rapid spread affected people’s social and sports life. In this study, we aimed at investigating the incidence of sports injuries in Mazandaran province, Iran and the effects of COVID- 19 pandemic on frequency of sports injuries. We also studied the relationship between sports injuries and age, gender, sports specialties and severity of injury. Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, information of all/injured athletes registered in Mazandaran Sport Medicine Center between 2018 and 2020 were analyzed in SPSS V23. In order to investigate the relationship between injured limb and age, gender, sports specialty, injured side, and surgery, Chi-square test was applied. Results: The numbers of registered athletes were 51.56, 50.59 and 16.45 per 10,000 population in the province and injured athletes included 6.90, 6.62, and 5.73 per 10,000 registered ones in 2018-2020, respectively. The majority of athletes were men. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of injury was high in soccer (9.09 per 10,000 registered athletes), knee injuries increased to 40.8%, and surgery was performed in 23.3% of all injuries. Significant relationship was found between injured limb and age (P˂0.05) and sport specialty (P˂0.001) during the years studied. Conclusion: Reduction in number of registered athletes and no considerable change in sports injuries indicate a decrease in recreational athletes after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, prohibition of indoor sports activities can be the reason for increase in men injuries, especially football players. Also, professional athletes experienced serious and more knee injuries