Fredrik Identeg: Sports-related health issues in climbing
Climbing has taken off at rocket speed, but there is still a lack of knowledge about the injuries and risks climbers face at different levels. Fredrik Identeg’s dissertation is a pioneer in Sweden, focusing on health issues within the sport.
FREDRIK IDENTEG
Dissertation defense: 12 September 2025 (click for details)
Doctoral thesis: Health and performance among Swedish climbers: Exploring the challenges affecting mental well-being, injury, and athletic development
Research area: Orthopaedics
Sahlgrenska Academy, The Institute of Clinical Sciences
Climbing has grown explosively over the past decade, both as a recreational activity and as a competitive sport. Much of this is thanks to its inclusion as an Olympic discipline in 2020, which brought it major media attention.
– This dissertation is somewhat unusual, since we still know very little about the sport and its impact on those who practice it. As climbing developed so quickly from a niche activity to an Olympic sport, there was a unique opportunity to start researching an area that remains largely unexplored but where there’s a real need for more knowledge, says Fredrik Identeg, Resident doctor in general medicine and a doctoral student at the Institute of Clinical Sciences.
He and his supervisors had to build up the entire research field in Sweden themselves, creating and designing the studies from scratch.
Mental health issues and frequent finger and hand injuries
Since this research field is completely new in Sweden - and still underexplored internationally - they began by focusing on the areas where they knew more research was urgently needed.
– We looked at issues we already know are risks in high-level sports in general, such as mental health, eating disorders, and the development of degenerative changes in the spine.
Two of the studies examined eating disorders and mental health. They showed that climbers had similarly high levels of depression, anxiety, stress, and poor sleep quality compared to non-climbers.
– Eating disorders and body dissatisfaction were also common, but the rates did not differ between climbers and non-climbers. We also studied injury patterns, and the results showed that fingers and hands were the most frequently injured, with 16.5 percent of climbers reporting significant problems in these areas.
Beyond mental health and injuries, the research also examined one of the most important performance factors in climbing: finger strength, a key element in the bouldering discipline. The method used to measure finger strength proved reliable, and finger strength explained a large part of performance ability - 66 percent.
Follow-up studies on risk factors and unrealistic body ideals
Within climbing culture, there is a widespread belief that low body weight is essential for success—something Fredrik believes deserves closer study.
– We will continue following up on the five studies in my dissertation and hope to bring more nuance to the results. For example, to see how the underlying causes of mental health problems differ between climbers and non-climbers, and to identify the more specific risk factors that contribute to poor well-being in the sport.
His dissertation also includes a systematic literature review, which shows that the methods currently used to study spinal changes in athletes vary widely in how the methods of classification are applied. The field examining radiographic spinal research in athletes, generally lack established methods on how to classify these changes.
– Age-related spinal changes were not more common among climbers, but a follow-up study using more advanced MRI assessments is needed - and that work has already begun.
What has been most rewarding and challenging in the PhD project?
– The most exciting and challenging part has been building up a completely new research field from the ground up. On one hand, we had to think carefully about which areas really needed to be explored. On the other, we had the chance to design the studies from the very beginning.It has also been extremely rewarding to collaborate closely with the climbing community, to work across several different disciplines, and to partner with other universities - such as the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences.
Text: Susanne Lj Westergren