Trends in Lacrosse Injuries: A NEISS Study

Abstract

Lacrosse is a popular and growing sport in the United States. It is a moderate injury risk contact sport primarily played by youth. This study was conducted to identify general lacrosse injury trends in the United States and present specific injury information that was not included in previous studies. Lacrosse related injury data from 2012-2022 in the NEISS database, a database of emergency department injury reports from approximately 100 U.S. hospitals, was the probability sample for this study. After examining each injury narrative to filter out injuries not caused by playing lacrosse, there was a total of 4,498 sample cases representing 130,329 injuries nationwide. Using NEISS coding and extracted narrative data, tables and sub-tables were created. Tables were converted into graphs using the GraphPad Prism 10 software. There were significantly more male injuries, representing 71.41% of the national estimate. Most injuries occurred in the 10-18 age group, representing 84.07% of the national estimate. Sprain/strain was the most common diagnosis, and the upper extremity was the most injured body part region. “Hit by stick” was the most common injury mechanism. The most fractured upper extremity bone was the phalanx, and the most fractured lower extremity bone was the fibula. The identification of the most prevalent injury types can be used by sports medicine clinics and injury prevention programs to target certain common injuries and can guide lacrosse programs to create rules and regulations designed to minimize the risk of the most common injuries.