Abstract
The purpose of this project is to identify injuries, chronic health conditions as a result of chronic weight loss practices and current medical provided to professional jockeys. Data was collected from a non-validated survey, which was created by the researcher for the purposes of this study. The secretary of the Jockeys’ Guild recruited the participants through the Jockeys’ Guild email contact list. Participants included currently licensed professional jockeys who were members of the Jockeys’ Guild. Once the secretary of the Jockeys’ Guild emailed all members of the Jockeys’ Guild, participants were asked to click the link to the survey if they chose to participate. The survey was made available through Google Forms. The data collected revealed that jockeys sustained seven or more injuries during the course of their career and at least one injury last racing meet. Jockeys reported fractures as the most common injury sustained. Injury to the leg was the most commonly reported body part injured. Jockeys use a variety of weight loss methods with restriction of eating the most common. Jockeys reported that 50% of the time a physician was available for initial evaluation at the racetrack at the time of injury.