Epidemiology of injuries in U.S. high school track and field throwing events from 2008 to 2019

Injury characteristics of high school track and field throwing athletes in the United States are not well studied. Understanding epidemiology of injuries is important to identify treatment and prevention strategies.

To describe injury rates and patterns in U.S. high school track and field throwing events from a longitudinal national sports injury surveillance system.

Descriptive epidemiology study.

Data were provided by the National High School Sports Related Injury Surveillance System, High School RIO (Reporting Information Online).

Athletic trainers reported injury and exposure data through the High School RIO website on a weekly basis. An athlete exposure (AE) was defined as one athlete participating in one school-sanctioned practice or competition. Throwing events of discus, shot put, and javelin were analyzed in this study.

Injury rate, rate ratios (RR), injury proportion ratios (IPR).

U.S. high school athletes.

A total of 267 track and field throwing injuries occurred during 5,486,279 AEs. Overall, the rate of injuries in competition was higher than in practice (RR 1.35, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-1.80). In practice, the rate of injuries was higher for girls than boys (RR 1.53, 95% CI 1.12-2.08). The most frequently injured body part was the shoulder (21.7%), followed by the ankle (16.5%) and knee (12.0%). The most common types of injury were muscle strains (26.14%) and ligament sprains (25%). Recurrent injuries accounted for a higher proportion of chronic injuries compared to new injuries (IPR 1.85, 95% CI 1.16-2.97).

This study described injury characteristics of high school track and field throwing athletes from 2008 to 2019. Based on our results, injury prevention may be particularly important for female throwers with prior injury.