Patterns of injuries in athletes evaluated in an interdisciplinary clinic

ABSTRACT

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 per cent of the patient population and approximately 80 per cent of the injuries corresponded to the 10 to 29 age range. The most frequent sports in males were baseball (21.9 per cent ) and basketball (15.9 per cent ) and in females were track and field (17.1 per cent ) and gymnastics (15.1 per cent ). Most injuries (52 per cent ) were traumatic in nature, chronic (71.6 per cent ), and occurred during training sessions (57.4 per cent ). The most commonly affected anatomical areas were the knee (31.2 per cent ) and shoulder (15.5 per cent ). The most common diagnoses were tendinitis (25.4 per cent ), and first degree strains (11.8 per cent ) and sprains (9.3 per cent ). Finally, treatment strategies included medications (61.0 per cent ), physical therapy (48.9 per cent ), relative rest (35.7 per cent ), and home exercise programs (35.2 per cent ). 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