SPORT READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE FOCUSED ON MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES

Introduction: Sports injuries are disorders that have great impact on athletic performance. Objective: To develop and validate a questionnaire of pre-participation in sports that identifies athletes with risk factors or likelihood of musculoskeletal injury in order to select them for specialized medical evaluation. Methods: We used the Delphi Technique to gather information and reach a consensus of experts on a topic, which is not found in the related literature. The initial version of the Sport Readiness Questionnaire (MIR-Q) focusing on musculoskeletal injuries was based on the researcher's experience in the areas of sports orthopedics/traumatology and medicine of exercise and sport (MES) and was supported by theoretical references. Results: In the pilot phase, the analysis of the MIR-Q content was performed by nine specialists in MES. Of the seven initial questions, the question 5 was removed. In the first round of the Delphi Technique, 25 experts evaluated the six questions of the MIR-Q. The rounds were programmed to be repeated until the minimum agreement of 75% was reached among the responses of the majority of specialists (over 50%) for each question, through a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 to 5. In the round one, three questions were modified and consensus was reached (concordance of 80% to 100%), an index that varied from 75% to 87.5% as for reproducibility. The measure of the internal consistency of MIR-Q (Cronbach's alpha) was satisfactory both in the first round (0.70) and reproducibility phase (0.88). Conclusion: The present questionnaire proved to be a simple and valid tool from the point of view of content validity for screening athletes with probability of musculoskeletal injuries for referral to specialists.