Basketball Injuries During The Athens 2004 Olympic Games

Abstract

The epidemiology of athletic injuries occurring during an Olympic basketball tournament has not previously been described. PURPOSE To analyze the incidence, circumstances and characteristics of injuries among male and female players during all games of the 2004 Olympic Games basketball competition. METHODS All injuries (defined as any physical complaint occurring during the game that required medical attention, regardless of the consequences with respect to removal from the game or training) were documented by team physicians and the FIBA Supervising Physician (AP). The injury-reporting system applied in the present study was developed for the documentation of injuries during team-sport tournaments (Junge et al. 2004) and has been applied in many international competitions. The injury report form comprised a single page on which all injuries during a given match or, where applicable, the non-occurrence of injury was described in tabular form. The response rate was 100%. RESULTS A total of 55 injuries were reported from the 84 matches, which is equivalent to an incidence of 0.7 injuries per game. The majority of injuries did not result in absence from match or training; a time-loss injury occurred in roughly every forth match. Approximately a third of all injuries occurred without contact with another player. The majority of injures affected the lower extremity (47%), followed by upper extremity (27%), head (22%) and trunk (4%). The most frequent types of injuries were contusions (20%), lacerations (18%), strains (18%), sprains (16%) and fractures (11%). Two career-threatening injuries of the knee were identified, both in female athletes. CONCLUSION It is possible, despite the pressures and circumstances of an Olympic basketball competition, to conduct a complete and comprehensive injury survey. The results of our survey reveal, for the first time, the incidence of injury in an Olympic basketball competition and demonstrate further the utility of the survey instrument.