Gender-Specific Injury Patterns in High School Varsity Basketball

Abstract

An analysis of 2 years of injury surveillance data on female and male high school varsity basketball players gathered by certified athletic trainers at 196 schools around the nation is presented. In contrast to previous reports, the rate of sport-related injury (game and practice combined) was approximately the same for both sexes. The girls had a slightly higher proportion of moderate and major injuries than had the boys. Sprains were the most frequent type of injury for both sexes, and the most frequently injured body part was the ankle. The majority of injuries were new vs reinjuries. The rate of injury was twice as great for game-play as for practice in both sexes. The rate of major injury in game-play was higher for the girls, and these injuries involved the knee 58% of the time. Certain body characteristics and the player's sex were associated with knee and ankle injuries. More injury surveillance studies are needed that contain specific injury diagnoses and data on player fitness, strength, flexibility, body type, and conditioning activities to further delineate the risk of gender-specific injury and highlight the factors that can be controlled.