Dodgeball-related injuries treated at emergency departments

There is little published information on injuries from playing dodgeball. This investigation described dodgeball-related injuries among children and adults managed at emergency departments (EDs).

Cases were dodgeball-related injuries reported to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) during 2001-2018. Cases were divided into patients age 0-19 years (children) and patients age 20 years or greater (adults).

A total of 5533 dodgeball-related injuries were identified, resulting in a national estimate of 185,382 injuries. Children accounted for 167,766 (90.5%) and adults for 17,617 (9.5%) of the injuries. For both age groups, the number of injuries increased during 2001-2006 then fluctuated but did not demonstrate any clear trend during 2007-2018. The highest proportion of children were treated on Friday (21.8%) while the highest proportion of adults were treated on Saturday (20.2%). While 57.8% of child injuries occurred at school, 46.7% of adult injuries occurred at a sports or recreational facility. The more common reported types of injuries among children and adults, respectively, were sprain or strain (30.7% vs 38.5%), fracture (24.7% vs 23.9%), contusion or abrasion (16.3% vs 7.5%), and dislocation (3.0% vs 11.7%). The most frequently affected body parts among children and adults, respectively, were the upper extremity (50.4% vs 46.3%), head and neck (22.8% vs 15.4%), and lower extremity (21.4% vs 31.5%).

The majority of dodgeball-related injuries occurred among children. Children and adults tended to differ with respect to when and where the injuries occurred as well as the type of injury.