The NCAA News - News and Features

September 1, 1997

Baseball, softball injury rates still among NCAA's lowest

The spring sports of baseball and softball continue to have among the lowest practice and game injury rates of sports monitored by the NCAA's Injury Surveillance System (ISS).

Baseball had practice and game injury rates that were consistent with its 12-year averages. Shoulder injuries accounted for 22 percent of those reported. Such injuries have been the most common in the sport since 1985-86.

Thirty-four percent of reported baseball injuries resulted in at least one week of time loss.

Softball practice and game injury rates were consistent with that sport's 11-year averages. Knee, shoulder and ankle injuries continued to be the most common. Thirty percent of those reported resulted in at least one week of time loss.

The spring football practice injury rate was consistent with its nine-year average, which is more than double the injury rate for fall football. The rates of surgeries, concussions, fractures and knee injuries were consistent with those of previous years, which are two to three times higher than fall values. The most common injuries in spring football were those to the knee and ankle. Forty-four percent of spring football injuries involved restricted participation for at least seven days.

These data were considered in the development of the spring football proposal reported in the July 21 issue of The NCAA News.

Women's lacrosse had a lower practice injury rate (3.2) but a higher game injury rate (9.8) than its 11-year averages. The rate for injuries occurring above the neck was slightly higher than the past overall average for the sport. Injuries to the ankle and upper leg continued to be the most common. Twenty-six percent of injuries caused restricted participation for at least one week.

Men's lacrosse showed game (12.1) and practice (3.5) injury rates that were lower than its 13-year averages. The upper leg and ankle were the most common body parts injured. Thirty percent of the reported injuries resulted in restricted participation for seven days or more.

Baseline of data

The survey, conducted as part of the ISS, provides a baseline of injury data from a national sampling. Researchers should be cautious when comparing ISS results with injury data from other studies. No common definition of injury, measure of severity or evaluation of exposure exists in athletics-injury literature. The information in the summary must be evaluated under the definitions and methodology outlined for the ISS.

The ISS was developed in 1982 to provide current and reliable data on injury trends in intercollegiate athletics. Injury data are collected yearly from a representative sample of member institutions and the resulting data summaries are reviewed by the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports.

The committee's goal continues to be to reduce injury rates through suggested changes in rules, protective equipment or coaching techniques, based on ISS data.

Sampling

Exposure and injury data were submitted weekly by athletic trainers from institutions selected to represent a cross section of NCAA membership. The cross section was based on the three divisions of the NCAA and the four geographical regions of the country. The selected institutions amount to a minimum 10 percent sample of the membership sponsoring the sport; therefore, the resulting data should be representative of the total population of NCAA institutions.

The system does not identify every injury that occurs at NCAA institutions in a particular sport. Rather, it collects a sampling that is representative of a cross section of the NCAA.

Exposures

An athlete-exposure (A-E) is one athlete participating in one practice or game in which he or she is exposed to the possibility of athletics injury. For example, five practices, each involving 60 participants, and one game involving 40 participants, would result in a total of 340 A-Es for a particular week.

Injuries

A reportable injury in the ISS is defined as one that:

1. Occurred as a result of participation in an organized intercollegiate practice or game, and

2. Required medical attention by a team athletic trainer or physician, and

3. Resulted in restriction of the student-athlete's participation or performance for one or more days beyond the day of injury.

Injury rate

An injury rate is a ratio of the number of injuries in a particular category to the number of athlete-exposures in that category. This value is then multiplied by 1,000 to produce an injury rate per 1,000 athlete-exposures. For example, six reportable injuries during a period of 563 athlete-exposures would give an injury rate of 10.7 injuries per 1,000 athlete-exposures [(six divided by 563) times 1,000.]

Additional information on the report is available from the sports sciences staff at the NCAA national office.

The accompanying tables highlight selected information from the spring 1997 ISS. When appropriate, injury rates and game-practice percentages are compared to an average value calculated from all years in which ISS data has been collected in a specific sport.