The NCAA News - News and Features

September 14, 1998

Survey shows rise in practice injury rates for five spring sports

According to the spring summary of the Association's Injury Surveillance System (ISS), spring football practice rates of 10.8 injuries per 1,000 athlete-exposures (A-E) were higher than the 10-year average for the sport, while injury rates in the traditional spring game (14.6) were significantly lower than the average.

Rates of injuries requiring surgery, concussions, and fractures also were higher than in previous years.

Ankles, knees and the upper leg were the top three body parts injured. Sprains, strains and contusions were the top three types of injuries, accounting for 67 percent of reported injuries. Contact (tackling) practices accounted for 41 percent of reported injuries, followed by contact (nontackling) (21 percent), scrimmage (19 percent) and noncontact (11 percent). Forty-five percent of injuries resulted in a time loss of seven or more days.

In baseball, 1997-98 practice (2.4) and game (5.6) injury rates were similar to the 13-year averages for the sport. The greatest number of game injuries occurred during the middle innings (four through six).

Shoulders, elbows and the upper leg were the top three body parts injured and accounted for 39 percent of the reported injuries in the sport. Strains, which have been the most common injury to players for the past 13 years, continue to be a significant issue for ballplayers, accounting for 32 percent of all reported injuries. Thirty-six percent of all injuries restricted participation for seven days or more.

Softball showed practice (3.7) and game (5.3) injury rates that were slightly higher than the 12-year averages for the sport. Knees, ankles and upper leg areas were the top three body parts injured and accounted for 39 percent of the reported injuries in the sport. Sprains, strains and contusions were the top types of injuries, accounting for 68 percent of the reported injuries.

Interestingly, injuries that occurred during games were most prevalent in the middle innings (four through six), similar to baseball. Twenty-four percent of all injuries restricted participation for seven days or more.

In women's lacrosse, practice (4.8) and game (8.6) injury rates were higher than the 12-year averages for the sport. Ankles, knees and the upper leg were the top three body parts injured and accounted for 47 percent of the reported injuries in the sport. Sprains, strains and concussions were the top types of injuries. Thirty percent of reported injuries resulted in restricted or no participation for seven or more days.

In games, player contact and contact with the stick or ball each accounted for 24 percent of all injuries.

Men's lacrosse also showed practice (3.9) and game (16.0) injury rates that were slightly higher than the 11-year averages for the sport. Ankles, knees and the upper leg were the top three body parts injured and accounted for 45 percent of the reported injuries in the sport. Sprains, strains and contusions were the top three types of injuries, and 31 percent of reported injuries resulted in restricted or no participation for seven days or more.

Player contact was the mechanism for 41 percent of injuries in games, while contact with the stick or ball accounted for 16 percent of all injuries.

Baseline of data

The survey, conducted as part of the NCAA Injury Surveillance System, provides a baseline of injury data from a national sampling. Researchers should be cautious when comparing the results with injury data from other studies. No common definition of injury, measure of severity or evaluation of exposure exists in the athletics-injury literature. The information contained in this 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 NCAA 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 composed 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 NCAA institutions

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 1998 Injury Surveillance System. 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.

Injury Surveillance System Highlights

The following table highlights selected information from the spring 1998 Injury Surveillance System. 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.

SPRING MEN'S WOMEN'S

-- BASEBALL -- SOFTBALL -- FOOTBALL -- LACROSSE -- LACROSSE

No. of teams -- 94 (11 %) -- 58 (8%) -- 114 (30%) -- 42 (22%) -- 41 (21%)

Practice injury rate

(per 1,000 A-E) -- 13-Yr. Avg. - 24 (2.2) -- 12-Yr. Avg. - 3.7 (3.5) -- 10-Yr. Avg. - 10.8 (9.6) -- 11-Yr. Avg. - 3.8 (3.7) -- 12-Yr. Avg. - 4.8 (3.7)

Game injury rate

(per 1,000 A-E) -- 5.6 (6.1) -- 5.3 (5.0) -- 14.6 (22.6) -- 16.0 (15.2) -- 8.6 (7.4) --

Percent of injuries

occurring in practice -- 52% (45%) -- 54% (53) -- 94% -- 57% (56) -- 68% (68)

Percent of injuries

occurring in games -- 48% (55) -- 46% (47) -- Scrimmage 6% -- 43% (44) -- 32% (32) --

Preseason injury rate

(per 1,000 A-E) -- 3.1 -- 4.7 -- -- -- 6.1 -- 4.6

Regular-season injury rate

(per 1,000 A-E) -- 3.5 -- 4.1 -- -- -- 5.4 -- 4.1

Postseason injury rate

(per 1,000 A-E) -- 2.7 -- 0.0 -- -- -- 3.8 -- 2.6

Top three body parts injured -- Shoulder 21% -- Knee 18% -- Knee 21% -- Knee 17% -- Ankle 16%

(% of all injuries) -- Elbow 9% -- Ankle 11% -- Ankle 14% -- Upper Leg 17% -- Upper Leg 16%

-- Upper Leg 9% -- Upper Leg 10% -- Upper Leg 13% -- Ankle 11% -- Knee 15%

Top three types of injury -- Strain 32% -- Strain 25% -- Sprain 33% -- Strain 25% -- Strain 27%

(% of all injuries -- Sprain 17% -- Contusion 25% -- Strain 24% -- Sprain 22% -- Sprain 24%

-- Contusion 13% -- Sprain 18% -- Contusion 10% -- Contusion 18% -- Concussion 11% --