One of our latest collaborations culminated in this review. We often think of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention when preventing sports-related injuries. However, a new concept called quaternary prevention focuses on protecting individuals from interventions that could do more harm than good. These interventions include overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and overmedication. Quaternary prevention aims to prevent all kinds of harm associated with training and clinical interventions. To create effective injury prevention models or strategies in sports, we must consider the risks linked to excessive training (like overreaching and overuse) and unnecessary clinical interventions (such as overdiagnosis, over-medicalization, and overtreatment). We propose a framework incorporating quaternary prevention into existing injury prevention models in sports. It's essential to remember that injury prevention is just one aspect of risk management, and athletes, coaches, and health professionals need to consider a range of factors to make informed decisions and control potential hazards. By integrating quaternary prevention, we can better protect athletes from unnecessary and potentially harmful interventions that could do more harm than good while ensuring their well-being and ethical treatment.
Model of different categories of injury prevention in sports
The full article can be found here (Open Access)
Brito, J., Mendes, R., Figueiredo, P. et al. Is it Time to Consider Quaternary Injury Prevention in Sports?. Sports Med 53, 769–774 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-022-01765-1