Vitamin D3 Supplementation and Stress Fracture Occurrence in High-Risk Collegiate Athletes

The main objective of this study is to find a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and stress fracture occurrences in athletes who participate in high-risk activities. These high-risk athletes undergo elevated bone turnover, which requires adequate levels of vitamin D in order to support bone health. It is hypothesized that providing supplemental treatment to athletes showing lower than normal serum vitamin D levels will decrease the occurrence of stress fractures. By recording the dates and specific occurrences of fractures, it may be possible to correlate injury rates with seasons, providing more supportive data to pre-existing literature. This area of research is lacking in the quantity of prospective studies. Previous studies primarily focus on adolescent, elder, or military recruit populations. While literature has shown that vitamin D plays an important role in bone health, there are no previous studies that directly examine vitamin D deficiency and supplemental treatment in conditioned collegiate athlete populations. This study will add to the existing knowledge and will provide a more specific analysis for athletes.