Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113862

Andrew Lincoln, ScD¹, Richard Y. Hinton, MD, MPH, MEd, PT², Jon L. Almquist, MS, ATC³, Wiemi A. Douoguih, MD², and Krishn M. Sharma, MD². (1) John's Hopkins Center for Injury Research & Policy, 624 North Broadway, 5th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21205-1996, 301-642-3136, alincoln@jhsph.edu, (2) Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Union Memorial Hospital, The Johnson Professional Building, #400, 3333 North Calvert Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, (3) Athletic Training Program, Fairfax County Public Schools, Burkholder Administrative Center, 10700 Page Avenue, Fairfax, VA 22030

Purpose: Lacrosse is among the fastest growing team sports in America. Little information exists on injury rates, types, and mechanisms at the scholastic level of play. Our purpose was to report the types, mechanisms, and circumstances for scholastic aged girls' and boys' lacrosse injuries incurred during high school and summer camp play.

Methods: We prospectively gathered data on 358,040 high school and 28,318 summer camp lacrosse athletic-exposures for girls and boys using a lacrosse-specific computerized injury surveillance system over three years. Prevalent injuries were organized into multifactorial injury scenarios.

Results: In high school play, the boys' injury rate (2.89 per 1,000 athletic exposures) was slightly higher than that for girls (2.54 per 1,000 athletic exposures; incident rate ratio = 1.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.00 – 1.30). The most prevalent injuries for girls and boys were knee and ankle sprains resulting from noncontact mechanisms. Boys had significantly higher rates of shoulder, neck, trunk, and back injuries and higher game-to-practice injury ratios. Boys had higher rates of concussive events from player-to-player contact. Girls had higher rates of overall head injuries, many involving contusions and abrasions from stick and ball contact.

Implications: The overall injury rates for boys and girls high school lacrosse were significantly lower than collegiate play. Significant differences exist between boys and girls lacrosse related to injury mechanisms, body parts injured, and player and team activity at the time of injury. These gender variations may reflect differences in allowed contact and protective equipment utilized in the girls and boys games.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize differences between boys' and girls' lacrosse play and the implications for injury incidence and mechanisms of injury.
• List the most prevalent types of injuries and common scenarios associated with injuries.
• Identify opportunities for injury prevention for scholastic aged boys’ and girls’ lacrosse play.

Keywords: Injury Risk, Adolescents

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.