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BackgroundThis study describes the epidemiology of men's and women's tennis injuries reported by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) during the 2009/2010–2014/2015 academic years.MethodsInjuries and athlete-exposure (AE) data originated from 19 varsity men's programmes (38 team-seasons); women's tennis data originated from 25 varsity programmes (52 team-seasons). Injury rates, injury rate ratios (IRRs) and injury proportions ratios (IPRs) were reported with 95% CIs.ResultsThe ISP captured 181 and 227 injuries for men's and women's tennis, respectively, for injury rates of 4.89 and 4.88/1000 AE for men and women, respectively. There were 32.2% and 63.9% reductions in men's and women's tennis practice injury rates between 2009/2010–2011/2012 and 2012/2013–2014/2015, but no reductions in competition injury rates. Competition injury rates were higher than practice injury rates in men's (IRR=2.32; 95% CI 1.72 to 3.13) and women's tennis (IRR=1.77; 95% CI 1.35 to 2.33). Most injuries in men's and women's tennis occurred to the lower extremities (47.0% and 52.4%, respectively), compared with the trunk (16.6% and 17.6%, respectively) and upper extremities (23.8 and 23.8, respectively).ConclusionsInjury rates in NCAA men's and women's tennis were similar overall. Practice injury rates in men's and women's tennis have declined, although competition rates have not changed. These findings may help inform injury prevention programmes in the future.

Background Lateral ligament complex (LLC) ankle sprains are among the most common injuries in United States (US) college athletes. But, there is limited information about the specific epidemiology of such injuries. Methods De-identified data from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) was analysed for 25 sports from the 2009/10–2014/15 academic years. Analyses were limited to injuries diagnosed as LLC sprains. Descriptive statistics include frequencies, rates per 10,000 athlete-exposures (AE), and rate ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results LLC sprain was the most common injury diagnosis in 25 NCAA sports, with 2,429 reported in the sample from the study period. This results in a LLC sprain rate of 4.95/10,000 AEs and a national annual estimate of 16,022 LLC sprains in NCAA athletes. The sports with the highest LLC sprain rates were men’s/women’s basketball (11.96 and 9.50/10,000 AE, respectively), and men’s/women’s soccer (7.43 and 8.36/10,000 AE, respectively). Football had the largest national estimate in NCAA athletes (3,606 per year), despite having a moderate LLC sprain rate (6.87/10,000 AE). Most LLC sprains occurred during practices (57.3%); however, the LLC sprain rate was higher in competition than in practice (RR = 3.29; 95% CI: 3.03–3.56). Overall, 44.3% of LLC sprains required participation restriction time under 24 hours; 33.7%, 1–6 days; 15.7%, 7–21 days; and 3.6%, over 21 days. In total, 11.9% of LLC sprains were recurrent. The sports with the largest proportion of recurrent LLC sprains were women’s basketball and women’s outdoor track and field (both 21.1%). The most common injury mechanisms for LLC sprains were player contact (41.4%), and non-contact (27.4%). Conclusions LLC sprains are the most common injury in US college athletes. Nearly 20% require at least 7 days of participation restriction time. Future research and interventions should address men’s/women’s soccer and basketball.

Background Stress fractures are common sports-related injuries; female and endurance athletes are known to be at a higher risk than the general athlete population. There are thousands of collegiate athletes in the United States competing in high-impact sports, but no large study has been conducted to determine the incidence of stress fractures in this population. Our objective was to calculate the incidence of stress fractures in National Collegiate Athletic Association athletes and investigate epidemiological trends in specific subgroups of athletes. Methods Data were analysed from the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program from 2009–2010 to 2014–2015 academic years. Results A total of 747 stress fractures resulting in time loss were reported during 18,054,757 athletic exposures (AE) for an overall rate of 0.53/10,000 AE (95% CI: 0.50, 0.57). The rate of fracture was higher overall among female athletes (RR = 2.06; 95% CI: 1.71, 2.47). Female cross country runners had higher fracture rates than males runners (RR = 1.77; 95% CI: 1.05, 2.98), but this was also noted in female versus male soccer (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.09, 2.63) and basketball (RR = 1.69; 95% CI: 1.26, 2.28) players. The pre-season rate was larger than the regular-/post-season rate (RR = 3.27; 95% CI: 2.83, 3.78). The most common stress fracture locations were the metatarsals (38.8%, N = 290), tibia (20.7%, N = 155), and the lower back/lumbar spine/pelvis (13.4%, N = 100) and 22.5% (N = 165) of stress fractures were recurrent. Conclusion Females had higher fracture rates of stress fractures than males; but future work needs to focus on improved screening tools for female athletes for all sports as our results found a gender disparity in additional sports from the well-known cross-country athletes. A fifth of fractures are recurrent, potentially highlighting the need to reassess post-injury return to play policies.