A Sport-specific Analysis of the Epidemiology of Hip Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletes From 2009 to 2014

Christian A Cruz; Yehuda Kerbel; Christopher M Smith; John Prodromo; Jeffrey D Trojan; Mary K Mulcahey

doi:10.1016/j.arthro.2019.03.044

A Sport-specific Analysis of the Epidemiology of Hip Injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association Athletes From 2009 to 2014

Arthroscopy. 2019 Sep;35(9):2724-2732. doi: 10.1016/j.arthro.2019.03.044.

Authors

Christian A Cruz¹, Yehuda Kerbel², Christopher M Smith³, John Prodromo², Jeffrey D Trojan⁴, Mary K Mulcahey⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, U.S.A.
² Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
³ Department of Emergency Medicine, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, New Jersey, U.S.A.
⁴ Tulane University School of Medicine, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.
⁵ Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.A.. Electronic address: mary.mulcahey.md@gmail.com.

PMID: 31500761
DOI: 10.1016/j.arthro.2019.03.044

Abstract

Purpose: To describe the injury rates, mechanisms, time loss, and rates of surgery for hip/groin injuries in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletes across 25 collegiate sports during the 2009/10 to 2013/14 academic years.

Methods: Data from the 2009/10 to 2013/14 academic years were obtained from the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program (ISP). Rates of hip/groin injuries, mechanism of injury, time lost from competition, and surgical treatment were calculated. Differences between sex-comparable sports were quantified using rate ratios and injury proportion ratios. A sport-specific biomechanical classification system, which included cutting, impingement, overhead/asymmetric, endurance, and flexibility sports, was applied for subgroup analysis.

Results: In total, 1,984 hip injuries were reported in 25 NCAA sports, including 9 male and female sports, 3 male-only sports, and 4 female-only sports between the years 2009/10 and 2013/14, resulting in an overall hip injury rate of 53.1/100,000 athletic exposures (AEs). In sex-comparable sports, (basketball, cross-country, lacrosse, ice hockey, indoor track, outdoor track, soccer, swimming, and tennis), men were more commonly affected than women (59.53 vs 42.27 per 100,000 AEs respectively; rate ratio, 1.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.28-1.55). Subgroup analysis demonstrated that the highest rate of hip injuries per 100,000 AEs occurred in impingement sports (96.9). Endurance sports had the highest proportion of injured athletes with time lost >14 days (9.5%). For impingement-type sports, the most common mechanism of injury was no apparent contact (48.2%). The rate of athletes undergoing surgery per 100,000 AEs was highest in impingement-type sports (2.0).

Conclusions: We have identified that impingement-type sports are most frequently associated with hip injuries. Additionally, this study demonstrates that hip injuries sustained in athletes who played impingement-type sports had a significantly higher rate of surgical intervention than other sport classifications.

Level of evidence: Level III, prognostic study.

Publication types

Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Athletes*
Athletic Injuries / epidemiology*
Hip Injuries / epidemiology*
Humans
Incidence
Students*
United States / epidemiology