10-Year Epidemiology of Ankle Injuries in Men’s and Women’s Collegiate Soccer Players

Abstract

Background: Data from the National Collegiate Athletic Associ-ation (NCAA) Injury Surveillance Program (ISP) has indicated that ankle injuries are the most common injuries among NCAA soccer players. Objective:To review 10 years of NCAA-ISP data for soccer players’ ankle injuries to understand how the time period (2004-2005 through 2008-2009 versus 2009-2010 through 2013-2014), anatomical structure injured, and sex of the athlete affected the injury rate, mechanism, and prognoses. Design:Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting: Online injury surveillance. Main Outcome Measure(s): The NCAA-ISP was queriedfor men’s and women’s soccer ankle data from 2004 to 2014. Ankle injury rates were calculated on the basis of injuries per 1000 athlete-exposures. Rate ratios (RRs) were used to compare injury rates. Injury proportion ratios (IPRs) were used to compare injury characteristics. Results: When compared with the 2004-2005 through 2008-2009 seasons, the 2009-2010 through 2013-2014 seasons showed a similar rate of injuries (RR¼0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI]¼0.85, 1.04) but fewer days missed (P,.001) and fewer recurrent injuries (IPR¼0.55, 95% CI¼0.41,0.74). The 4 most common ankle injuries, which accounted for 95% of ankle injuries, were lateral ligament complex tears(65.67%), tibiofibular ligament (high ankle) sprains (10.3%), contusions (10.1%), and medial (deltoid) ligament tears (9.77%). Of these injuries, high ankle sprains were most likely to cause athletes to miss 30þdays (IPR¼1.9, 95% CI¼1.24, 2.90). Men and women had similar injury rates (RR¼1.02, 95% CI¼0.94, 1.11). Men had more contact injuries (IPR¼1.28, 95% CI¼1.16, 1.41) and contusion injuries (IPR¼1.34, CI¼1.03, 1.73) but fewer noncontact injuries (IPR¼0.86, 95% CI¼0.78, 0.95) and lateral ligamentous complex injuries (IPR¼0.92, 95% CI¼0.86, 0.98). Conclusions: Although the rate of ankle injuries did not change between the 2004-2005 through 2008-2009 seasons and the 2009-2010 through 2013-2014 seasons, the prognoses improved. Among the 4 most common ankle injuries, high anklesprains resulted in the worst prognosis. Overall, male and female NCAA soccer players injured their ankles at similar rates; however, men were more likely to sustain contact injuries.