College Sports–Related Injuries — United States, 2009–10 Through 2013–14 Academic Years

Abstract

Sports-related injuries can have a substantial impact on the long-term health of student-athletes. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) monitors injuries among college student-athletes at member schools. In academic year 2013-14, a total of 1,113 member schools fielded 19,334 teams with 478,869 participating student-athletes in NCAA championship sports (i.e., sports with NCAA championship competition) (1). External researchers and CDC used information reported to the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (NCAA-ISP) by a sample of championship sports programs to summarize the estimated national cumulative and annual average numbers of injuries during the 5 academic years from 2009-10 through 2013-14. Analyses were restricted to injuries reported among student-athletes in 25 NCAA championship sports. During this period, 1,053,370 injuries were estimated to have occurred during an estimated 176.7 million athlete-exposures to potential injury (i.e., one athlete's participation in one competition or one practice). Injury incidence varied widely by sport. Among all sports, men's football accounted for the largest average annual estimated number of injuries (47,199) and the highest competition injury rate (39.9 per 1,000 athlete-exposures). Men's wrestling experienced the highest overall injury rate (13.1 per 1,000) and practice injury rate (10.2 per 1,000). Among women's sports, gymnastics had the highest overall injury rate (10.4 per 1,000) and practice injury rate (10.0 per 1,000), although soccer had the highest competition injury rate (17.2 per 1,000). More injuries were estimated to have occurred from practice than from competition for all sports, with the exception of men's ice hockey and baseball. However, injuries incurred during competition were somewhat more severe (e.g., requiring ≥7 days to return to full participation) than those acquired during practice. Multiple strategies are employed by NCAA and others to reduce the number of injuries in organized sports. These strategies include committees that recommend rule and policy changes based on surveillance data and education and awareness campaigns that target both athletes and coaches. Continued analysis of surveillance data will help to understand whether these strategies result in changes in the incidence and severity of college sports injuries.

Ball-Contact Injuries in 11 National Collegiate Athletic Association Sports: The Injury Surveillance Program, 2009–2010 Through 2014–2015

“…Previous researchers 2,3 have suggested that, although injury rates are higher during competitions than during practices, more time is spent in practice sessions, leading to a larger reported number of injuries in practices than in competitions. These findings merit the implementation of injury-prevention strategies in both types of events to reduce incident injuries.…”

“…1 Previous epidemiologic studies on collegiate sports-related injuries have shown that reported incidences vary by sport and event type. 2,3 In addition, continued efforts by the NCAA, its member institutions, and associated organizations have propelled changes to practice and competition policies, rules, training regimens, injury-prevention interventions, and equipment standards. [3][4][5][6] Although many of these changes are associated with reducing the incidence of injury related to player-to-player contact and noncontact, few researchers have examined injuries resulting from ball contact.…”

“…Therefore, using data from a sample of programs from 11 sports that reported to the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) during the 2009-2010 through 2014-2015 academic years, we describe the epidemiology of ball-contact injuries. Our specific aims were to (1) estimate the rate of ball-contact injuries by sport, (2) examine the distribution of ball-contact injuries within each sport by body part injured, diagnosis, activity, and participation-restriction time, and (3) compare rates and distributions of ball-contact injuries in sex-comparable sports (eg, baseball/softball, basketball, soccer).…”

Star Excursion Balance Test Anterior Asymmetry Is Associated With Injury Status in Division I Collegiate Athletes

“…To address this limitation, our findings should be confirmed by future studies accounting for injury history when assessing SEBT performance and injury risk. Additionally, injury risk during practice differs from risk during a competition, 5,17 and the time spent in both may influence the findings of this study. While we were able to include starting status in the model, incorporating more accurate measures of athletic exposure (number of practices and games, minutes or hours of exposure) may assist in improving the accuracy of the model.…”

The Epidemiology of Deltoid Ligament Sprains in 25 National Collegiate Athletic Association Sports, 2009–2010 Through 2014–2015 Academic Years

“…10,[22][23][24] However, practices may reflect more controlled environments, which help to minimize risk. The different findings related to event type may highlight both competitions and practices as areas of intervention to reduce the incidence of injury, 25 such as taping or bracing for external ankle support during both practices and competitions.…”