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Am J Sports Med. 1993 May-Jun;21(3):461-7.
Injuries in recreational adult fitness activities.
Requa RK, DeAvilla LN, Garrick JG.
Center for Sports Medicine, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, San Francisco, California.
Volunteers (986) from fitness clubs and studios were recruited and followed for a 3-month period to document the injury consequences of adult recreational fitness participation. Participants were telephoned each week and their activities as well as any injuries that occurred were recorded. Of the 525 injuries and complaints reported during 60,629 hours of activity, 475 occurred as a result of sports participation for an overall rate of 7.83 per 1000 hours of participation. Seventy-six percent of these episodes caused the patient to alter or miss 1 or more activities, while 9.5% involved a physician visit. The rate for time-loss injuries was less than 2 per person per year (1.76 per 298 hours) or 5.92 per 1000 hours. Running had a higher risk of injury compared with most other individual sports. Cardiovascular fitness activities had low to medium rates, as did weight work; competitive sports were higher. For 6 of the most commonly injured areas, the reinjury rate was about twice that reported for those with no history of previous injury. The risks of injury from most recreational fitness activities were relatively modest, particularly if the activities were not competitive. Physicians might help patients reduce their risks of injury by encouraging suitable activities and by reducing the risks of reinjury by implementing appropriate rehabilitation programs.
Inj Prev. 2003 Jun;9(2):117-23.Click here to read Click here to read
Sports and recreation related injury episodes in the US population, 1997-99.
Conn JM, Annest JL, Gilchrist J.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
jconn@cdc.gov
OBJECTIVE: To characterize sports and recreation related (SR) injury episodes in the US population. SR activities are growing in popularity suggesting the need for increased awareness of SR injuries as a public health concern for physically active persons of all ages in the US population. SETTING: The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a face-to-face household survey conducted yearly by the National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Demographic and health data are collected from a nationally representative sample of the civilian, non-institutionalized population residing in the US. METHODS: Medically attended injury events reported in the 1997-99 Injury Section of the NHIS were categorized according to the associated sport or recreational activity using a classification scheme based on the International Classification of External Causes of Injury system. Episodes where the injured person received any type of medical attention (that is, medical advice or treatment) from any health care provider were used to report the incidence, severity, and nature of SR injuries sustained by US citizens. RESULTS: Annually, an estimated seven million Americans received medical attention for SR injuries (25.9 injury episodes per 1000 population). For 5-24 year olds, this national estimate was about 42% higher than estimates based on SR injuries seen only in emergency departments over a similar time frame. The highest average annual SR injury episode rates were for children ages 5-14 years (59.3 per 1000 persons) and persons aged 15-24 years (56.4 per 1000 persons). The SR injury episode rate for males was more than twice the rate for females. The age adjusted injury rate for whites was 1.5 times higher than for blacks (28.8 v 19.0 per 1000 population). Basketball was the most frequently mentioned SR activity when the injury episode occurred, with a rate of about four injury events per 1000 population. Strains and sprains accounted for 31% of injury episodes. An estimated 1.1 million SR episode related injuries involve the head or neck region, of which 17% were internal head injuries. The most common mechanisms of injury were struck by/against (34%), fall (28%), and overexertion (13%). CONCLUSION: As physical activity continues to be promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle, SR injuries are becoming an important public health concern for both children and adults. Prevention efforts aimed at reducing SR injuries through targeting high risk activities, places of occurrence, activity, risk behaviors, and use of protective devices need to go beyond focusing on children and also consider physically active adults.
Ann Emerg Med. 2001 Mar;37(3):301-8.Click here to read
Emergency visits for sports-related injuries.
Burt CW, Overpeck MD.
National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hyattsville, MD, USA.
cwb2@cdc.gov
STUDY OBJECTIVE: We sought to estimate the effect and magnitude of patients with sports-related injuries presenting to hospital emergency departments in the United States and to examine differences in patient and visit characteristics between sports- and nonsports-related injuries. METHODS: Data from the 1997 and 1998 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, a national probabilistic sample of 496 US hospital EDs, were combined to examine emergency visits for sports-related injuries. Data from 16,997 sample ED encounter records for injuries that included narrative cause of injury text were analyzed. Narrative text entries were coded to 1 of 84 sport and recreational activity codes. Sample weights were applied to provide annual national estimates. Estimates of sports-related injury visits were based on 1,775 records with an assigned sports-related activity code. RESULTS: There were an average annual estimated 2.6 million emergency visits for sports-related injuries by persons between the ages of 5 and 24 years. They accounted for over 68% of the total 3.7 million sport injuries presented to the ED by persons of all ages. As a proportion of all kinds of injuries presenting to the ED, sports-related injuries accounted for more than one fifth of the visits by persons 5 to 24 years old. The use rate was 33.9 ED visits per 1,000 persons in this age group (95% confidence interval 30.3 to 37.5). The sports-related injury visit rate for male patients was more than double the rate for female patients (48.2 versus 19.2 per 1,000 persons between 5 and 24 years of age). Visits from sports-related activities for this age group were more frequent for basketball and cycling compared with other categories (eg, baseball, skateboarding, gymnastics). Compared with nonsports-related injuries for this age group, sports-related injuries were more likely to be to the brain or skull and upper and lower extremities. Patients with sports-related injuries were more likely to have a diagnosis of fracture and sprain or strain and less likely to have an open wound. They were also more likely to have diagnostic and therapeutic services provided, especially orthopedic care. CONCLUSION: Sports-related activities by school-age children and young adults produce a significant amount of emergency medical use in the United States. The ED is an appropriate venue to target injury prevention counseling.