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Professional Women's Softball Injuries: An Epidemiological Cohort Study
Niraj Patel1, Aditya Bhatia, Chanda Mullen
1Department of Family Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Akron, Ohio.
Summary
Professional fast-pitch softball players sustain more injuries during practice than games. Most injuries are minor, with players returning to play in under a week.
Area of Science:
- Sports Medicine
- Epidemiology
- Athletic Training
Background:
- Professional fast-pitch softball is a growing sport with limited research on injury epidemiology.
- Understanding injury patterns is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the epidemiology of injuries in the Women's National Professional Fast-Pitch (NPF) league during the 2017 season.
- To identify risk factors associated with pitching injuries in professional softball.
Main Methods:
- Prospective data collection from 6 professional softball teams, including 153 players.
- Detailed recording of injury diagnoses, circumstances (game vs. practice), player position, and time lost.
- Calculation of injury rates (IR) overall, for position players, and for pitchers per 1000 athlete exposures (AE).
Main Results:
- Pitchers experienced upper and lower extremity injuries equally, while position players sustained more lower extremity injuries.
- Injury rates were higher during practices (4.79/1000 AE) compared to games (3.26/1000 AE) overall.
- Pitchers had a higher practice injury rate (5.66/1000 AE) than game injury rate (1.88/1000 AE).
Conclusions:
- Contrary to prior research, this study found higher injury rates during practices than games for both pitchers and position players.
- Significant injuries were infrequent, with most players missing less than 7 days, indicating the sport's relative safety.
- The findings suggest a need to focus injury prevention efforts on practice sessions in professional fast-pitch softball.