Epidemiology of dislocations/separations among US high school athletes

Abstract

Background As participation in US high school sports increases, the number of student-athletes sustaining dislocations/separations may similarly increase. Many dislocations/separations are recurring, require surgery and have long recovery times. Objective Investigate the epidemiology of dislocations/separations in a nationally representative sample of US high school athletes. Methods Sports-related exposure and injury data were collected during the 2005–2009 academic years from a nationally representative sample of 100 US high schools via RIO. Results In the nine sports studied, athletes sustained 755 dislocations/separations during 7 740 400 athlete exposures (AE) for a rate of 0.98 injuries per 10 000 AE. Dislocations/separations represented 3.6% of all high school athletic injuries. Overall, males had a higher dislocation/separation rate (1.30) (RR 3.91, 95% CI 3.12 to 4.89, p