Abstract

Runners are often injured while running. Although many injuries are related tolack of exercise prior to running some may be due to the runners approach, which may be directly related to personality traits. This study investigated the differences in personality traits, running techniques (i.e., warm-up exercises, distance run, field surface, amount of time running, etc.) and physiological variables (i.e., height and weight) that might separate injured and noninjured groups of runners. The two groups did not significantly differ on any of the physical measures; however, there were significant differences between the sexes on the E (humble versus assertive) and M (practical versus imaginative) factors of the 16 PF questionnaire. Further analysis showed the significant E and M differences to be result of the injured males and females. There were also significant differences between the injured males and females on such measures as knee injury, achilles tendonitis and ankle sprains as well asobvious height and weight differences between sexes. Pearson product moment correlations showed the weight factor to be positively and significantly correlated with knee injury and shin splints whereas the height variable was positively and significantly correlated with knee injury. Verf.-Referat