Epidemiology of Lumbar Spine Injuries in Men’s and Women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association Basketball Athletes

Abstract

Background: Lumbar spine injuries (LSIs) are common in both men’s and women’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball players and can frequently lead to reinjuries and persistent pain. Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of an LSI in collegiate men’s and women’s basketball during the 2009-2010 through 2013-2014 academic years. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: The incidence and characteristics of LSIs were identified utilizing the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (ISP). Rates of injury were calculated as the number of injuries divided by the total number of athlete-exposures (AEs). AEs were defined as any student participation in 1 NCAA-sanctioned practice or competition. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were then calculated to compare the rates of injury between season, event type, mechanism, injury recurrence, and time lost from sport. Results: The NCAA ISP reported 124 LSIs from an average of 28 and 29 men’s and women’s teams, respectively. These were used via validated weighting methodology to estimate a total of 5197 LSIs nationally. The rate of LSIs in women was 2.16 per 10,000 AEs, while men suffered LSIs at a rate of 3.47 per 10,000 AEs. Men were 1.61 times more likely to suffer an LSI compared with women. In men, an LSI was 3.48 times more likely to occur in competition when compared with practice, while in women, an LSI was 1.36 times more likely to occur in competition than in practice. Women suffered the highest LSI rate during the postseason, while the highest rate in men was during the regular season. The majority of both female (58.9%; n = 1004) and male (73.1%; n = 2353) athletes returned to play within 24 hours of injury. Conclusion: To date, this is the largest study to characterize LSIs in NCAA basketball and provides needed information on the prevalence and timing of these injuries. The majority of injuries in both sexes were new, and most athletes returned to play in less than 24 hours. Injury rates were highest during competition in both sexes.

Musculoskeletal disorders in basketball players and associated factors: a systematic review protocol with meta-analysis

“…13 Players of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) often have lumbar spine injuries which might cause chronic pain. 14 These injuries account for 11.4% and 13.5% of all injuries in competition and practice, respectively, in college basketball athletes, 13,15 and for 10.2% of all injuries in the National Basketball Association (NBA) over 17 years. 8 Postural deviations play an important role in the occurrence of back pain 16 and are common in sportsmen due to the repetitive and unilateral body overload during sports practice.…”

Epidemiology of Spine Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Wrestling Athletes

“…This increased risk of injury in the preseason in men’s collegiate athletics has been previously reported and can potentially be explained by poor conditioning, high-intensity preseason training, and increased duration of preseason practices. 12 , 18 , 19 Specific to wrestling, the early part of the season involves more athletes competing for starting positions and wrestle-offs between teammates. 11 Additionally, the preseason may involve more extreme attempts to reach a goal body weight for the upcoming season.…”

Women and Men National Collegiate Athletic Association Ice Hockey Players Were Similarly Likely to Suffer Lumbar Spine Injuries

“…The NCAA ISP database is a validated resource that has been previously used to report injuries in collegiate athletes. [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19] After receiving IRB approval (IRB: #17-008147) from the home institution, this database was used to evaluate data from the 2009-2010 to 2013-2014 academic years on LSIs in college ice hockey.…”

“…Although sex-specific epidemiology of LSIs has been examined in other college sports such as basketball, the literature describing these injuries in hockey players is sparce. 8,11 The purposes of our study were to describe and compare the epidemiology of LSIs in women's and men's ice hockey during the 2009-2010 to 2013-2014 academic years and to investigate sex-specific differences, using data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) database. We hypothesized that sex-specific differences exist between men's and women's ice hockey and that these differences reflect the more restrictive checking regulations in women's ice hockey.…”