Injury Profile of Northeastern Ohio High School Basketball Officials

In brief: Little is known about the nature, location, and mechanism of injuries among basketball officials. The purpose of the present study was to develop an injury profile for this group. A total of 145 high school basketball officials were surveyed by means of a questionnaire. Sixty-one officials (42.1%) reported 71 injuries, 59 of which (83.1%) occurred in the lower extremity. Most injuries were related to change of direction or speed while running, a contrast to football, in which more injuries to officials are from collisions with players. Overall, basketball officials seem to have a lower injury rate than football officials.