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

OBJECTIVES

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.

METHODS

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.

RESULTS

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 < 0.001) more and less likely to injure their upper trunk (8.0%; C.I. 7.1% - 8.8%) and wrists (3.7%; C.I. 3.2% - 4.2%), respectively, than those presenting with off-season injuries (upper trunk: 5.3%; C.I. 4.2% - 6.5%; wrists: 6.6%; C.I. 5.1% - 8.1%). There were no significant differences with respect to the overall prevalence of injury diagnoses between in-season and off-season patient cohorts, including for fractures and dislocations (p > 0.05).

CONCLUSION

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.