Characterization of the Patient Population in a Sports Medicine Facility

In brief: This article presents a statistical portrait of the injuries seen over a five-year period at a large sports medicine facility that serves primarily recreational athletes. About half of the 10,271 injuries treated were caused by overuse. Overuse problems exceeded acute injuries in running, tennis, figure skating, and aerobic dance, while acute injuries were more common in skiing, basketball, football, and soccer. The knee was the anatomic area most often injured in all of the major sports. The prevalence of overuse injuries indicates the importance of instructing patients in prevention methods.