Retrospective review of medical records was done to examine basketball-related injuries among adults presenting to ambulatory settings in the United States. An annual average of 507,000 adults were treated in an ambulatory care setting for injuries related to playing basketball. The majority of these patients sought treatment in physicians’ offices. Females had a much lower rate of visits (0.8/1000) for basketball-related injuries than males (5.7/1000); African American males had a rate 2.7 times higher than white males. The most common injuries were sprains and strains to the lower leg and/or ankle region and fractures of the hand, wrist, or fingers. Specific analyses of patients presenting to the emergency department diagnosed with sprain/strain injuries to the lower leg/ankle region revealed that 93% of these patients received an x-ray procedure. (Hammig BJ. Yang H. Bensema B. Epidemiology of basketball injuries among adults presenting to ambulatory care settings in the United States. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine. 17(6):446-51, 2007)
An estimated 326396 ankle injuries occurred nationally in 2005-2006, yielding an injury rate of 5.23 ankle injuries per 10 000 athlete-exposures. Ankle injuries occurred at a significantly higher rate during competition (9.35 per 10 000 athlete-exposures) than during practice (3.63) (risk ratio = 2.58; 95% confidence interval = 2.26, 2.94; P < .001). Boys’ basketball had the highest rate of ankle injury (7.74 per 10 000 athlete-exposures), followed by girls’ basketball (6.93) and boys’ football (6.52). In all sports except girls’ volleyball, rates of ankle injury were higher in competition than in practice. Overall, most ankle injuries were diagnosed as ligament sprains with incomplete tears (83.4%). Ankle injuries most commonly caused athletes to miss less than 7 days of activity (51.7%), followed by 7 to 21 days of activity loss (33.9%) and more than 22 days of activity loss (10.5%). Sports that combine jumping in close proximity to other players and swift changes of direction while running are most often associated with ankle injuries. (Nelson AJ. Collins CL. Yard EE. Fields SK. Comstock RD. Ankle injuries among United States high school sports athletes, 2005-2006. Journal of Athletic Training. 42(3):381-7, 2007. Female professional basketball athletes who did not wear an external ankle support, who played in the key area, or who functioned as centers had a higher risk for ankle sprain than did other players. (Kofotolis N. Kellis E. Ankle sprain injuries: a 2-year prospective cohort study in female Greek professional basketball players. Journal of Athletic Training. 42(3):388-94, 2007).
From 1988-1989 through 2003-2004, 12.4% of schools across Divisions I, II, and III that sponsor varsity women’s basketball programs participated in annual Injury Surveillance System data collection. Game and practice injury rates exhibited significant decreases over the study period. The rate of injury in a game situation was almost 2 times higher than in a practice (7.68 versus 3.99 injuries per 1000 athlete-exposures, rate ratio = 1.9, 95% confidence interval = 1.9, 2.0). Preseason-practice injury rates were more than twice as high as regular-season practice injury rates (6.75 versus 2.84 injuries per 1000 athlete-exposures, rate ratio = 2.4, 95% confidence interval = 2.2, 2.4). More than 60% of all game and practice injuries were to the lower extremity, with the most common game injuries being ankle ligament sprains, knee injuries (internal derangements and patellar conditions), and concussions. In practices, ankle ligament sprains, knee injuries (internal derangements and patellar conditions), upper leg muscle-tendon strains, and concussions were the most common injuries. (Agel J. Olson DE. Dick R. Arendt EA. Marshall SW. Sikka RS. Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate women’s basketball injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System, 1988-1989 through 2003-2004. Journal of Athletic Training. 42(2):202-10, 2007).