Descriptive Epidemiology of Injuries Sustained in National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse,2004–2005 Through 2013

Abstract

Background: Men’s and women’s lacrosse operate with significantly different rules, equipment, and contact. Previous studies have assessed injury rates (IRs) in either men’s or women’s lacrosse, but a few studies have compared injury patterns in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s and women’s lacrosse. Purpose: We sought to examine whether there were differences in injury type, mechanism, setting, and time loss in men and women playing lacrosse in the NCAA. Methods: We performed a retrospective case-control study using data collected by the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) during a 10-season period (2004–2005 to 2013–2014). The data were assessed for potential differences in injuries between male and female lacrosse players and analyzed to obtain descriptive statistics through calculations of rates, percentages, and confidence intervals (CIs). Main outcomes measured were IRs per 1000 athletic exposures (AEs) and injury rate ratios (IRRs) with 95% CIs. Results: The IRs were 5.19 per 1000 AEs in women’s lacrosse and 6.52 per 1000 AEs in men’s lacrosse. Men had more injuries overall than women in competitions and practices and in preseason, regular season, and postseason play. Preseason IRs were higher than the regular season, and competition injuries were greater than practice injuries in both sexes. Women had more injuries to the head/face, knee, lower leg, and foot. Sprains, strains, concussions, and contusions were the most common types of injuries in both sexes. Overuse/gradual onset, cartilage, concussion, inflammation, and tendinosis injuries were more common in women than men. Injuries in men resulted in time loss more often than injuries in women. Conclusions: Our retrospective study’s findings suggest that there were differences in injury patterns between men’s and women’s lacrosse. Future prospective research should assess whether these disparities are due to differences in equipment and rules and whether changes to these factors can reduce injuries.

Keywords

lacrosse collegiate injury rates time loss

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Barber Foss

Cara

McCambridge

Hinton

Kushner

Myer

. Epidemiology of injuries in women’s lacrosse: implications for sport-, level-, and sex-specific injury prevention strategies. Clin K Sport Med. 2018;28(4):406–413.

Bass

. Tendinopathy: why the difference between tendinitis and tendinosis matters. Int J Ther Massage Bodywork. 2012;5(1):14–17.

Bretzin

D’Alonzo

Chandran

, et al. Epidemiology of injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s lacrosse: 2014–2015 through 2018–2019. J Athl Train. 2021;56(7):750–757.

D’Alonzo

Bretzin

Chandran

, et al. Epidemiology of injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s lacrosse: 2014–2015 through 2018–2019. J Athl Train. 2021;56(7):758–765.

Dick

Agel

Marshall

. National Collegiate Athletic Association injury surveillance system commentaries: introduction and methods. J Athl Train. 2007;42(2):173–182.

Dick

Lincoln

Agel

Carter

Marshall

Hinton

. Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate women’s lacrosse injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association injury surveillance system, 1988–1989 through 2003–2004. J Athl Train. 2007;42(2):262–269.

Dick

Romani

Agel

Case

Marshall

. Descriptive epidemiology of collegiate men’s lacrosse injuries: National Collegiate Athletic Association injury surveillance system, 1988–1989 through 2003–2004. J Athl Train. 2007;42(2):255–261.

Hanlon

Krzak

Prodoehl

Hall

. Effect of injury prevention programs on lower extremity performance in youth athletes: a systematic review. Sports Health Multidiscip Approach. 2020;12(1):12–22.

Irick

. Student athlete participation 1981-82–2018-19: NCAA sports sponsorship and participation rates report; 2019. Available at: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/research/sportpart/2018-19RES_SportsSponsorshipParticipationRatesReport.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

10.

Kerr

Dompier

Snook

, et al. National Collegiate Athletic Association injury surveillance system: review of methods for 2004-2005 through 2013-2014 data collection. J Athl Train. 2014;49(4):552–560.

11.

Kerr

Lincoln

Caswell

Klossner

Walker

Dompier

. Epidemiology of National Collegiate Athletic Association women’s lacrosse injuries, 2009-10 through 2014-15. J Sport Rehabil. 2018;27(2):118–125.

12.

Kerr

Quigley

Yeargin

, et al. The epidemiology of NCAA men’s lacrosse injuries, 2009/10-2014/15 academic years. Inj Epidemiol. 2017;4(1):6.

13.

Kucera

Marshall

Bell

DiStefano

Goerger

Oyama

. Validity of soccer injury data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s injury surveillance system. J Athl Train. 2011;46(5):489–499.

14.

Lauersen

Bertelsen

Anderson

. The effectiveness of exercise interventions to prevent sports injuries: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials. Br J Sports Med. 2014;48:871–877.

15.

Lincoln

Hinton

Almquist

Lager

Dick

. Head, face, and eye injuries in scholastic and collegiate lacrosse: a 4-year prospective study. Am J Sports Med. 2007;35(2):207–215.

16.

Ling

Cheng

Santiago

, et al. Women are at higher risk for concussions due to ball or equipment contact in soccer and lacrosse. Clin Orthop. 2020;478(7):1469–1479.

17.

Link

. Commotio cordis ventricular fibrillation triggered by chest impact–induced abnormalities in repolarization. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol. 2012;5(2):425–432.

18.

Mayo Clinic. Overuse injury: how to prevent training injuries; 2021. Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/overuse-injury/art-20045875.

19.

NCAA. 2021 and 2022 major rules changes for men’s lacrosse. Available at: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/lacrosse/rules/men/2021-2022PRMLA_MajorRulesChanges.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

20.

NCAA. 2020 Major rules changes for men’s lacrosse. Available at: https://ncaaorg.s3.amazonaws.com/championships/sports/lacrosse/rules/men/2019-20PRMLA_MajorRulesChanges.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

21.

Otterness

Eckstein

. Women have thinner cartilage and smaller joint surfaces than men after adjustment for body height and weight. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2007;15(6):666–672.

22.

Roos

Marshall

Kerr

, et al. Epidemiology of overuse injuries in collegiate and high school athletics in the United States. Am J Sports Med. 2015;43(7):1790–1797.

23.

Scroggs

. Men’s lacrosse: 2021 and 2022 NCAA rules book; 2020. Available at: http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/LC22.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

24.

Shmerling

. The gender gap in sports injuries; 2020. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-gender-gap-in-sports-injuries-201512038708.

25.

Smith

. Women’s lacrosse: 2020 and 2021 rules book; 2019. Available at: http://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/WLC20.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

26.

Thorell

. Are women athletes more susceptible to injury? Penn Medicine. May 19, 2015. Available at: https://www.pennmedicine.org/updates/blogs/health-and-wellness/2015/may/are-women-athletes-more-susceptible-to-injury. Accessed November 22, 2022.

27.

Winters

. 2007 men’s lacrosse rules; 2006. Available at: https://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/LC07.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

28.

Zimmerman

. Lacrosse: 2011 and 2012 rules and interpretations; 2010. Available at: https://www.ncaapublications.com/productdownloads/LC12.pdf. Accessed November 22, 2022.

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.03 MB

0.02 MB

Descriptive Epidemiology of Injuries Sustained in National Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse,2004–2005 Through 2013–2014 Seasons

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material