Incidence, characteristics and cost of head, neck and dental injuries in non‐professional football (soccer) using 3 years of sports injury insurance data.

Aim: This descriptive epidemiological study aimed to quantify the incidence, characteristics and costs of head, neck and dental injuries in non‐professional football players. Methods: Injury data were coded (using Orchard Sports Injury and Illness Classification System) from a de‐identified insurance database containing three seasons (2018–2020) of data. Cost data included direct and indirect costs presented by type of injury, age group and sex using means ± SD, range of costs ($AU) and total costs ± SE. Chi‐squared tests were used to analyse the data (significance level p <.05) with injury incidence rates (IR) calculated per 1000 match hours and per 1000 injury insurance claims. Results: A total of 388 injuries affecting 240 players were sustained. Of these, 43% (n = 102) of players also sustained one or more secondary injuries, mainly to the head or neck area. Dental injuries (n = 143, 39%, IR = 0.008) accounted for the highest number of primary and secondary injuries and the highest mean direct cost per injury ($AU1152), while head and facial injuries accounted for the highest proportion of total costs ($AU434,101). Players who sustained one or more secondary injuries had the highest direct and indirect mean cost per injury. Conclusions: Given the frequency and cost of dental injuries in non‐professional football players, injury prevention initiatives warrant further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]