The purposes of this study were to determine the incidence and distribution of injuries affecting collegiate competitive swimmers and to test possible injury risk factors. A prospective cohort design was used to follow 34 swimmers (16 M, 18 F) from an NCAA Division I Midwest University over one academic year. Exposure-based injury rates were determined for both practice and competition. Risk of injury was assessed relative to gender, years swimming, and history of injury. Twenty of 34 swimmers sustained 31 injuries with overall injury rates of 5.55 injuries per 1000 athlete exposures and 3.04 injuries per 1000 hours exposure. Practice injury rates for female swimmers were higher than for women's practice injury rates in other NCAA sports. The most common injury locations were the shoulder, back, and knee. Risk factors that remained significant in the multivariate analysis were history of injury to the same anatomical location and history of injury at other anatomical sites.

CONCLUSIONS:The average number of pitches per game and per season for our sample was within the recommendations proposed by Little League Baseball. While mean counts per game and season were higher for injured pitchers than non-injured pitchers, no significant differences found for softball or baseball players; likely due to the small study sample size. Future studies with larger sample sizes are recommended to examine the risk of pitch count on upper extremity injury risk.There is little published information on injury risk factors and on the incidence and distribution of injury affecting competitive collegiate swimmers. PURPOSE:To prospectively study the incidence and distribution of injuries affecting collegiate competitive swimmers and to examine the relationship between these injuries and specific risk factors. METHODS:Participants were thirty-four competitive swimmers from an NCAA Division I Midwest University. Injury surveillance was conducted prospectively by a certified athletic trainer for one competitive season. Exposure-based injury rates were determined relative to athlete-exposures and hours of training for both practice and competition. Information on injury distribution (e.g. location, type, and onset) was coded in terms of numbers and relative percentage of injuries. The impact of risk factors -gender, years swimming, any history of injury, and history of specific injury (i.e., at same anatomical location) -on incidence rate ratios were analyzed via Poisson regression. Because of multiple injuries in some swimmers, not all injuries could be treated as independent data points, thus requiring Poisson regression models to be fitted using generalized estimating equations (GEE). RESULTS:Twenty of 34 swimmers sustained 31 injuries during the study period. Injury rates were 5.55 injuries per 1000 athlete-exposures and 3.04 injuries per 1000 hours exposure. Practice injury rates for female swimmers were higher than for women's practice injury rates in all other NCAA sports. The most common injury locations were the shoulder (38.7%), back (16.1%), and knee (12.9%). The most common injury type was tendonitis (58%) followed by strain (35.5%) and sprain (6.5%). Risk factors that remained significant in the multivariate analysis were history of injury to the same anatomical location (IRR = 2.86, 95% CI = 1.23, 6.64, p < 0.05) and history of injury at other sites (IRR = 1.67, 95% CI = 1.21, 2.31, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS:Study results suggest that competitive collegiate swimming carries a high risk of injury, and that previous injury serves as a risk factor for future injury. However, these results await confirmation from a multi-year study and larger sample of competitive collegiate swimmers.Snow sports such as skiing and snowboarding are enjoyed by many elite and recreational athletes (Florenes et. al). The occurrence and mechanism of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries among elite and recreational skiers, as well as the occurrence of ACL injuries in elite snowboarders, have been well documented in the m...

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