Injuries in Collegiate Wrestling

Abstract

We evaluated the data of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System on collegiate wrestling with a focus on musculoskeletal injuries. Over 800,000 athlete-exposures during an 11-year period compose these data. Findings particular to wrestling and a comparison with other collegiate sports are included. Collegiate wrestling had a relatively high rate of injury at 9.6 injuries per 1000 athlete-exposures. It was second to spring football in total injury rate. Most injuries in this study were not serious, with 6.3% resulting in surgery and 37.6% resulting in a week or more off from wrestling. There was only one catastrophic, nonfatal injury. The knee, shoulder, and ankle were the most commonly injured regions, and injuries to them were often the more serious. Sprains, strains, and contusions were the most common injury types. Takedowns and sparring were the most common activities at the time of injury. Mechanism of injury was evaluated; rotation about a planted foot and contact with environmental objects were identified as areas needing further attention. Illegal action accounted for only 4.6% of injuries in competition. Competition had a significantly higher injury rate than practice, but the injury profiles of these two areas showed both to be equally important. The preseason and regular season had higher injury rates than the postseason, but, again, the injury profiles of these periods were similar. Injury percentages were similar among the 10 weight classes.

Lesões musculoesqueléticas em atletas de luta olímpica

“…The difficulty in the comparison of data among studies is due to the absence of an uniform standard in the classification of lesion types. 4 The types of lesion most frequently reported in our study were sprains (34.5%) and muscle lesions (30.4%), which is in line with the results presented by Jarrett et al 4 , Pasque et al 5 and Snook 6 . These authors said that contusions are the third most common lesion in wrestlers, unlike our data in which contusions were the least frequent lesions.…”

“…Several anatomical regions are injured as a result of the practice of wrestling. 4,11 We found that the topography with the highest number of lesions was the knee (25.5%), followed by the shoulder (20%), which is consistent with the findings of most researchers.1,4,6,12,13 Only Pasque and Hewett5, in a prospective study with adolescent athletes for a season, found a Average length of absence due to injury 2.1 (0.5 -9) months…”

“…2,12 In our study, we do not distinguish between injuries occurring during training and competitions. Agel et al1 and Jarrett et al 4 demonstrated that most traumas occur during training, but the incidence of lesions caused by exposure is about four times greater during competitions. Several anatomical regions are injured as a result of the practice of wrestling.…”

“…Snook 6 kept track of 129 wrestlers for five years and, in this period, observed 90 injuries in 70 athletes. Jarrett et al, 4 through the analysis of a database on injuries in university athletes over an 11-year period, determined the incidence of 9.6 injuries for every 1,000 exposures of the athletes, which places wrestling second in the ranking of sports with the largest number of injuries, only coming second to American football. We believe that the higher percentage of lesions is due to the extreme physical demands inherent to an individual combat sport.…”

“…3 Wrestling is a contact sport with extreme physical demands and its practice is naturally associated with an elevated incidence of orthopedic injuries, 1,4-6 yet there is little information about these injuries in literature. 4,5 The aim of this study was to identify and characterize the musculoskeletal injuries more commonly related with the sport. The analysis of the data obtained can assist in the preparation of preventive measures.…”