Wrist, hand and finger injuries in Australian football: A prospective observational study of emergency department presentations

Objectives Investigate the characteristics of wrist, hand and finger (WHF) injuries in Australian footballers presenting to EDs and determine if injury profiles differed between females and males, and between children and adults. Methods In this prospective observational study that took place during...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Emergency medicine Australasia Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 589 - 594
Main Authors:	Gill, Stephen D, Anagnostelos, Lambros, Stella, Julian, Lowry, Nicole, Kloot, Kate, Reade, Tom, Baker, Tim, Hayden, Georgina, Ryan, Matthew, Seward, Hugh, Page, Richard S
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Melbourne Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd 01-08-2023
Subjects:	Adult Athletic Injuries - epidemiology Athletic Injuries - etiology Australian football Child emergency medical services Emergency Service, Hospital Female female footballers Finger Injuries - epidemiology Finger Injuries - etiology Fractures, Bone - epidemiology Fractures, Bone - etiology Hand Injuries - epidemiology Hand Injuries - etiology Humans Male sports‐related injury Sprains and Strains Team Sports Victoria - epidemiology Wrist Victoria emergency medical services sports-related injury Australian football female footballers
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Summary:	Objectives Investigate the characteristics of wrist, hand and finger (WHF) injuries in Australian footballers presenting to EDs and determine if injury profiles differed between females and males, and between children and adults. Methods In this prospective observational study that took place during an entire football season, patients attended 1 of 10 EDs in Victoria, Australia with a WHF injury sustained while playing Australian football. Data were extracted from patient medical records by trained researchers. Data included injury type (e.g. fracture), body part (e.g. metacarpal) and mechanism of injury. Males versus females, and children versus adults were compared using chi‐squared tests or Fisher's exact tests. Results In total, 528 patients had a WHF injury, of which 105 (19.9%) were female and 308 (59.2%) were children. Fractures and sprains were the most common injury types (45.3% and 38.6%, respectively). Fingers were more often injured than wrists or hands (62.5%, 23.5% and 15.0%, respectively). Ball contact was the most common mechanism of injury (38.1% of injuries). Females were more likely than males to (i) have a sprain/strain injury, (ii) injure a finger (rather than wrist or hand) and (iii) injure themselves through ball contact. Children were more likely to injure their wrists, have a sprain/strain injury, or be injured falling to the ground. Adults were more likely to dislocate a joint or injure their hands. Conclusions Differences in injury type, location and mechanism between females and males, and children and adults, suggest an opportunity for customised injury prevention and management strategies by sex and age.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 ObjectType-Undefined-3
ISSN:	1742-6731 1742-6723
DOI:	10.1111/1742-6723.14171