Patterns of injuries in athletes evaluated in an interdisciplinary clinic

The pattern of sports injuries appears to be population-specific. The purpose of the present study is to describe 1750 injuries evaluated between April 1988 and April 1994 in our Olympic Training Center Interdisciplinary Sports Injury Clinic. Our patient population included elite and recreational athletes of both sexes between the ages of 7 and 71 years. Males comprised 73% of the patient population and approximately 80% of the injuries corresponded to the 10 to 29 age range. The most frequent sports in males were baseball (21.9%) and basketball (15.9%) and in females were track and field (17.1%) and gymnastics (15.1%). Most injuries (52%) were traumatic in nature, chronic (71.6%), and occurred during training sessions (57.4%). The most commonly affected anatomical areas were the knee (31.2%) and shoulder (15.5%). The most common diagnoses were tendinitis (25.4%), and first degree strains (11.8%) and sprains (9.3%). Finally, treatment strategies included medications (61.0%), physical therapy (48.9%), relative rest (35.7%), and home exercise programs (35.2%). The variety of musculoskeletal disorders seen in combination with the frequent use of conservative treatment confirms the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to sports injuries.