Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Jul;2(4):284-90.
doi: 10.1177/1941738109357303.

Injury in the national basketball association: a 17-year overview

Mark C Drakos  1 , Benjamin Domb, Chad Starkey, Lisa Callahan, Answorth A Allen
Affiliations

Injury in the national basketball association: a 17-year overview

Mark C Drakos et al. Sports Health. 2010 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Injury patterns in elite athletes over long periods continue to evolve. The goal of this study was to review of the injuries and medical conditions afflicting athletes competing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) over a 17-year period.

Design: Descriptive epidemiological study.

Methods: Injuries and player demographic information were reported by each team's athletic trainer. Criteria for reportable injuries were those that resulted in (1) physician referral, (2) a practice or game being missed, or (3) emergency care. The demographics, frequency of injury, time lost, and game exposures were tabulated, and game-related injury rates and 95% confidence intervals were calculated.

Results: A total of 1094 players appeared in the database 3843 times (3.3 ± 2.6 seasons). Lateral ankle sprains were the most frequent orthopaedic injury (n, 1658; 13.2%), followed by patellofemoral inflammation (n, 1493; 11.9%), lumbar strains (n, 999; 7.9%), and hamstring strains (n, 413; 3.3%). The most games missed were related to patellofemoral inflammation (n, 10 370; 17.5%), lateral ankle sprains (n, 5223; 8.8%), knee sprains (n, 4369; 7.4%), and lumbar strains (n, 3933; 6.6%). No correlations were found between injury rate and player demographics, including age, height, weight, and NBA experience.

Conclusion: Professional athletes in the NBA experience a high rate of game-related injuries. Patellofemoral inflammation is the most significant problem in terms of days lost in competition, whereas ankle sprains are the most common injury. True ligamentous injuries of the knee were surprisingly rare. Importantly, player demographics were not correlated with injury rates. Further investigation is necessary regarding the consequences and sport-specific treatment of various injuries in NBA players.

Clinical relevance: Knowledge of these injury patterns can help to guide treatments and provide more accurate guidelines for an athlete to return to play.

Keywords: National Basketball Association; basketball injuries; injury epidemiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest declared.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Injury rate by player demographics.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Colliander E, Eriksson E, Herkel M, Skold P. Injuries in Swedish elite basketball. Orthopedics. 1986;9:225-227 - PubMed
    1. Deitch JR, Starkey C, Walters SL, Moseley JB. Injury risk in professional basketball players: a comparison of women’s national basketball association and national basketball association athletes. Am J Sports Med. 2006;34:1077-1083 - PubMed
    1. Emery CA, Meeuwisse WH, McAllister JR. Survey of sport participation and sport injury in Calgary and area high schools. Clin J Sport Med. 2006;16:20-26 - PubMed
    1. Henry JH, Lareau B, Neigut D. The injury rate in professional basketball. Am J Sports Med. 1982;10:16-18 - PubMed
    1. Lombardo S, Sethi PM, Starkey C. Intercondylar notch stenosis is not a risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament tears in professional male basketball players: an 11-year prospective study. Am J Sports Med. 2005;33:29-34 - PubMed