Comparison of in-season and off-season wrestling injuries presenting to United States emergency departments: 2000-2018

Wrestling is a physically demanding sport with an inherently high risk of injury relative to other sports. Injury risk factors may change dramatically for athletes participating in off-season wrestling, given exposure to new opponents, training methods, and wrestling styles compared with in-season months; however, this has never been elucidated in the literature. This study seeks to characterize the injuries sustained while participating in off-season wrestling and compare them to injuries sustained during the in-season months for middle and high school age athletes. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database was queried (2000–2018) to directly compare national estimates and injury characteristics of middle and high school age patients (11–18 years of age) presenting to US emergency departments (EDs) with wrestling-associated injuries, stratified by in-season and off-season months. The average annual number of patients 11 to 18 years of age presenting to US EDs with wrestling-associated injuries was 20,157 (95% Confidence Interval [C.I.] 16,622–23,691) during in-season months and 5,321 (C.I. 3,954–6,688) during off-season months between 2000 and 2018. Those sustaining in-season injuries were significantly (p 0.05). These findings may alleviate concerns that off-season wrestling is inherently more dangerous than in-season wrestling due to changes in wrestling styles or opponent skill levels as the prevalence of specific injury diagnoses between the two seasons is similar.

摔跤是一项对体能要求极高的体育运动，相较于其他运动项目，其固有损伤风险显著更高。相较于赛季内时段，参与休赛期摔跤的运动员会接触全新的对手、训练方法与摔跤风格，因此其损伤风险因素可能发生剧烈变化；但目前学界尚未就此展开相关阐释。本研究旨在明确休赛期摔跤运动中运动员所受损伤的特征，并将其与初高中年龄段运动员赛季内阶段的损伤情况进行对比。本研究检索了2000年至2018年的全国电子损伤监测系统（National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, NEISS）数据库，针对美国急诊科（Emergency Departments, EDs）接诊的11至18岁初高中年龄段摔跤相关损伤患者，按赛季内与休赛期月份进行分层，直接对比两类群体的全国估算发病数据与损伤特征。2000年至2018年间，赛季内阶段美国急诊科接诊的11至18岁摔跤相关损伤患者年均数量为20157例（95%置信区间[C.I.] 16622~23691），休赛期阶段年均数量为5321例（C.I. 3954~6688）。两类赛季的损伤患者各项指标无显著统计学差异（p>0.05）。本研究结果或可缓解人们的担忧：即由于摔跤风格或对手竞技水平的变化，休赛期摔跤本就比赛季内更具危险性——而实际上两个赛季的特定损伤诊断患病率并无显著差异。