Sports-related acute shoulder injuries in an urban population

Abstract

Objectives: More than a third of sports injuries involve the upper extremity. The primary aim was to quantify and describe sports-related shoulder injuries in a general population cohort. A secondary aim was to compare aspects of these injuries to those that were not sports-related.

Methods: We performed a prospective registration of the activity at the time of shoulder injury in all cases admitted during 1 year in a combined primary care and orthopaedic emergency department serving a defined population. The electronic patient records and patient reported questionnaires were reviewed.

Results: Twenty-nine per cent (n=781) of 2650 registered shoulder injuries were reported to be sports-related, with the highest proportion in acromioclavicular injuries (>50%). Patients with sports injuries were younger than those injured during other activities (median age 28 and 43 years, respectively, p<0.001), and more often male (78% and 52%, respectively, p<0.001). There was a strong gender disparity in incidence of sports-related shoulder injuries in adolescents and young adults, which was not observed in non-sports shoulder injuries. Football (soccer) (6-29 years), cycling (30-49 years), skiing (50-69 years) and martial arts were the dominating sports activities. Fractures were more common in skiing and cycling than in other major sports in the study.

Conclusions: Almost a third of the shoulder injuries occurred during sports. The types of sports involved varied with age and gender. The comparison of sport to non-sport shoulder injury incidence rates suggests that the increased risk of shoulder injuries in young males is mainly attributable to sports injuries.

Keywords: epidemiology; gender; injury; shoulder; sports.

Figure 1

Sports-related shoulder injury incidence rates stratified by age and gender.

Figure 2

Not sports-related shoulder injury incidence rates stratified by age and gender.

Figure 3

The five sports most commonly causing shoulder injury in the cohort. The percentage contributed by each sport to the total number of shoulder sports injuries in each age group is presented. Twenty-two patients with sports injuries were below 6 or above 69 years old.

Figure 4

Types of shoulder injury in the five most common sports comprising 453 incidents with 475 shoulder diagnoses. Percentages were calculated according to number of incidents in each sport, and therefore add up to >100% in some sports. Alp, alpine; MA, martial arts; XC, cross-country.