Epidemiology of National Collegiate Athletic Association Women’s Lacrosse Injuries, 2009–10 Through 2014–15

Abstract

Context: Participation in collegiate women’s lacrosse has increased dramatically, but little recent epidemiological data exists regarding injuries. Objective: Describe the epidemiology of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s lacrosse injuries during the 2009–10 through 2014–15 academic years. Setting: Aggregate injury and exposure data collected from 40 women’s lacrosse programs providing 83 team-seasons of data. Patients or Other Participants: Collegiate women’s lacrosse student-athletes. Intervention: Women’s lacrosse data from the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program were analyzed. Main Outcome Measures: Injury rates; injury rate ratios; and injury proportions by body site, diagnosis, and injury mechanism were reported with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Time loss (TL) injuries resulted in participation restriction time of at least 24 hours. Nontime loss (NTL) injuries resulted in participation restriction time under 24 hours. Results: There were 705 TL and NTL women’s lacrosse injuries, resulting in an injury rate of 4.93/1000 athlete-exposures (AEs; 95% CI: 4.57–5.30). The TL and NTL injury rates were 2.18/1000 AE (95% CI: 1.93–2.42) and 2.64/1000 AE (95% CI: 2.37–2.90), respectively. Most injuries were to the lower extremity (competition: 64.4%; practice: 71.2%). Most injuries in competition were sprains (26.0%), contusions (19.6%), and strains (19.2%); most injuries in practice were strains (21.4%), sprains (18.1%), and inflammatory conditions (15.8%). Concussions comprised the highest proportion of head/face injuries (competition: 82.1%; practice: 54.5%). No eye injuries were reported. The highest proportion of injuries were player contact (27.4%) in competitions and noncontact (32.1%) in practices. Contact with the ball and stick comprised 21.5% of competition and 14.0% of practice injuries. Conclusions: This study is the most robust assessment of collegiate women’s lacrosse injuries to date, utilizing surveillance data that includes both TL and NTL injuries. Over half of all injuries were NTL; inclusion of such injuries further highlights the breadth of injuries managed by team medical staff.