The NCAA News - News & Features

Injury rate for spring football still doubles fall practice rate

This year's spring football injury rate of 10.3 injuries per 1,000 athlete-exposures (A-E) is slightly higher than the eight-year spring average (9.5). Eighty percent of the injuries occurred in designated contact practices.

The most common injuries in both spring and fall football were those to the knee and ankle. A total of 44 percent of the injuries in spring practice involved restricted participation for at least seven days.

In other sports, men's lacrosse reported practice (3.7) and game (14.1) injury rates that were consistent with 12-year averages. Upper-leg, ankle and knee injuries continued to be the most common. Noncontact injury followed by player contact were the top injury mechanisms. Twenty-nine percent of reported injuries required at least one week of time loss.

Women's lacrosse showed a game injury rate (5.2) well below its 10-year average (7.0). The head and face injury rate also was reduced, compared to that of previous years. Ankle, knee and upper-leg injuries continued to be the most common. Twenty-six percent of injuries caused restricted participation of at least one week.

Baseball showed game (5.6) and practice (2.4) injury rates consistent with 11-year averages. Noncontact injuries, primarily associated with throwing, were the most common. Approximately one-third of the reported injuries restricted participation for seven days or more.

Softball practice (3.2) and game (5.4) injury rates were similar to 10-year averages. As in baseball, noncontact injuries accounted for the majority of the injuries. However, most of those injuries occurred as muscle strains below the waist, rather than as a result of throwing. Twenty-nine percent of the reported injuries required at least one week of restricted participation.

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 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 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 in 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.

When appropriate, injury rates and game-practice percentages are compared to an average value calculated from all years in which ISS data have been collected in a specific sport.