Ankle Sprain in Young Athletes: A 2-Year Retrospective Study at a Multisport Club

Santos, Thiago Ribeiro Teles; Silva, Edilene Isidora; Leite, Marcela Mendes de Almeida Gomide; Pinho, Guilherme Bernardone; Marcati, Mateus Martins; Bittencourt, Natalia Franco Netto

doi:10.1055/s-0042-1742340

Abstract

Objective

The present study aimed to analyze ankle sprains in young athletes of basketball, futsal, artistic gymnastics, trampoline, tennis, judo, and volleyball over 2 seasons.

Methods

Data of 529 athletes in the 1^st year and of 495 athletes in the 2^nd year of analysis were investigated from the injury record database of a sports club. The following data were considered: the demographic characteristics (age, body mass, height, and sex), the mechanism (contact or noncontact), the severity, the moment at which the injury occurred, and the recurrence. Also, the incidence rate, the injury risk of the first ankle sprain, and the incidence rate ratio between sports were calculated.

Results

The athletes sustained 124 ankle sprains in the 2 years of analysis. The majority occurred during training (76.6%) and lead to absence from sports practice (75.8%). The injury recurrence was low: 2 athletes (1.6%) had a recurrence in the same year and 5 (4.0%) in the following year. The incidence rate (0.79 to 12.81 per 1,000 hours) and the injury risk (1.14 to 19.44%) varied among sports. Volleyball, basketball, and futsal presented the highest injury rate incidence. Tennis, gymnastics, and trampoline showed the lowest injury rate incidence. Judo showed an incidence rate different from those of basketball and volleyball in the 1^st year and similar to those of other sports in the 2^nd year.

Conclusion

Ankle sprain greatly impacted sports practice and presented characteristics that differ among the investigated sports. These findings may contribute to developing preventive injury programs.

Keywords
ankle injuries; athletes; sports; sprains and strains

[1] Address for correspondence Thiago Ribeiro Teles Santos, PhD, Centro Universitário de Belo Horizonte (UniBH), Av. Prof. Mário Werneck, 1685, Buritis, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil, thiago.teles@prof.unibh.br, trtsantos@gmail.com

*1^st year of analysis (2016)*
*Sport*	Age (years old)	Body mass (kg)	Height (cm)	Sex M (%)/F (%)
Basketball (n= 108; 20.9%)	14.3 (2.1)	67.1 (18.4)	176.0 (14.4)	108 (100) / 0 (0)
Futsal (n= 88; 17.1%)	14.4 (2.4)	56.1 (14.1)	165.0 (12.6)	88 (100) / 0 (0)
Gymnastics and trampoline (n= 57; 11.0%)	10.3 (2.7)	34.3 (12.6)	138.2 (15.4)	31 (54.3) / 26 (45.7)
Judo (n= 88; 17.1%)	13.0 (1.9)	56.8 (17.8)	159.8 (13.6)	79 (89.8) / 9 (10.2)
Volleyball (n= 155; 30.0%)	15.4 (2.0)	68.9 (11.3)	180.4 (9.1)	70 (45.2) / 85 (54.8)
Tennis (n= 33; 6.4%)	13.5 (2.4)	54.4 (15.5)	162.0 (13.5)	26 (78.8) / 7(21.2)
All athletes (n= 529; 100%)	14.0 (2.7)	59.8 (18.6)	167.9 (18.6)	402 (76.0) / 127 (24.0)
*2^nd year of analysis (2017)*
*Sport*	Age (years old)	Body mass (kg)	Height (cm)	Sex M (%)/F (%)
Basketball (n= 108; 21.8%)	14.6 (2.2)	69.3 (17.7)	177.8 (14.8)	108 (100) / 0 (0)
Futsal (n= 90; 18.2%)	13.6 (1.8)	53.7 (13.8)	163.3 (12.6)	90 (100) / 0 (0)
Gymnastics and trampoline (n= 62; 12.5%)	9.9 (2.5)	32.9 (12.4)	136.8 (15.0)	32 (51.6) / 30 (48.4)
Judo (n= 51; 10.3%)	13.3 (2.2)	55.5 (16.5)	160.2 (13.0)	32 (62.8) / 19 (37.3)
Volleyball (n= 151; 30.5%)	15.1 (2.1)	69.0 (12.2)	180.1 (10.0)	70 (46.4) / 81 (53.6)
Tennis (n= 33; 6.7%)	13.0 (2.2)	49.0 (12.9)	159.2 (13.5)	22 (66.7) / 11 (33.3)
All athletes (n= 495; 100%)	13.8 (2.3)	59.4 (18.6)	167.9 (18.6)	354 (71.5) / 141 (28.5)

*1^st year of analysis (2016)*
	Basketball ( n = 108)	Futsal ( n = 88)	Gymnastics and trampoline ( n = 57)	Judo ( n = 88)	Volleyball ( n = 155)	Tennis ( n = 33)	All ( n = 516)
Total of injuries	20	11	2	1	20	2	56
Mechanism
Contact	13	5	2	1	11	2	34
Noncontact	7	6	0	0	9	0	22
Severity
Stopped all sport practice	12	8	0	0	14	1	35
Modified sport practice	4	0	2	0	2	1	9
Did not stop sport practice	4	3	0	1	4	0	12
Time loss (Days)	330	151	50	0	354	5	890
When did it happen?
Training	14	8	2	0	18	1	43
Matches	5	2	0	0	1	1	9
Others	1	1	0	1	1	0	4
*2^nd year of analysis (2017)*
	Basketball ( n = 108)	Futsal ( n = 90)	Gymnastics and trampoline ( n = 62)	Judo ( n = 51)	Volleyball ( n = 151)	Tennis ( n = 33)	All ( n = 495)
Total of injuries	23	10	3	5	26	1	68
Mechanism
Contact	11	8	1	1	8	1	30
Noncontact	12	2	2	4	18	0	38
Severity
Stopped all sport practice	21	9	3	5	20	1	59
Modified sport practice	0	1	0	0	2	0	3
Did not stop sport practice	2	0	0	0	4	0	6
Time loss (Days)	655	124	39	131	443	13	1405
When did it happen?
Training	17	7	3	4	21	0	52
Matches	4	3	0	0	5	1	13
Others	2	0	0	1	0	0	3

*1^st year of analysis (2016)*
*Sport*	Injured athletes ( n )	Injuries ( n )	Training exposure ( h )	Incidence rate per 1000h of exposure (95%CI)	Injury risk 95% CI
Basketball (n= 108)	17	20	2044	9.78 (5.50–14.07)	15.74% (8.87–22.61%)
Futsal (n= 88)	10	11	1572	7.00 (2.86–11.13)	11.36% (4.73–17.99%)
Gymnastics and trampoline (n= 57)	2	2	1872	1.07 (- 0.41–2.55)	3.51% (- 1.27–8.29%)
Judo (n= 88)	1	1	780	1.28 (- 1.23–3.79)	1.14% (- 1.08–3.35%)
Volleyball (n= 155)	20	20	1920	10.42 (5.85–14.98)	12.90% (7.63–18.18%)
Tennis (n= 33)	2	2	1258	1.59 (- 0.61–3.79)	6.06% (- 2.08–14.20%)
All (n= 516)	52	56	9446	5.93 (4.38–7.48)	9.83% (7.29–12.37%)
*2^nd year of analysis (2017)*
*Sport*	Injured athletes ( n )	Injuries ( n )	Training exposure ( h )	Incidence rate per 1000h of exposure (95%CI)	Injury risk 95% CI
Basketball (n= 108)	21	23	2044	11.25 (6.65–15.85)	19.44% (11.98–26.91%)
Futsal (n= 90)	10	10	1572	6.36 (2.42–10.30)	11.11% (4.62–17.60%)
Gymnastics and trampoline (n= 62)	3	3	1872	1.60 (- 0.21–3.42)	4.84% (- 0.50–10.18%)
Judo (n= 51)	5	5	780	6.41 (0.79–12.03)	9.80% (1.64–17.97%)
Volleyball (n= 151)	25	26	2030	12.81 (7.88–17.73)	16.56% (10.63–22.48%)
Tennis (n= 33)	1	1	1258	0.79 (- 0.76–2.35)	3.03% (- 2.82–8.88%)
All (n= 495)	65	68	9556	7.12 (5.42–8.81)	13.13% (10.16–16.11%)

*1^st year of analysis (2016)*
*Sport*	Basketball	Futsal	Gymnastics and trampoline	Judo	Volleyball	Tennis
Basketball (n= 108)	–	1.40 (0.67–2.92)	9.16 (2.14–39.18)	7.63 (1.02–56.87)	0.94 (0.51–1.75)	6.15 (1.44–26.33)
Futsal (n= 88)	0.72 (0.34–1.49)	–	6.55 (2.14–39.18)	5.46 (0.70–42.28)	0.67 (0.32–1.40)	4.40 (0.98–19.86)
Gymnastics and trampoline (n= 57)	0.11 (0.03–0.47)	0.15 (0.03–0.69)	–	0.83 (0.08–9.19)	0.10 (0.02–0.44)	0.67 (0.09–4.77)
Judo (n= 88)	0.13 (0.02–0.98)	0.18 (0.02–1.42)	1.20 (0.11–13.23)	–	0.12 (0.02–0.92)	0.81 (0.07–8.89)
Volleyball (n= 155)	1.06 (0.57–1.98)	1.49 (0.71–3.11)	9.75 (2.28–41.71)	8.13 (1.09–60.54)	–	6.55 (1.53–28.03)
Tennis (n= 33)	0.16 (0.04–0.70)	0.77 (0.05–1.03)	1.49 (0.21–10.56)	1.24 (0.11–13.68)	0.15 (0.04–0.65)	–
*2^nd year of analysis (2017)*
*Sport*	Basketball	Futsal	Gymnastics and trampoline	Judo	Volleyball	Tennis
Basketball (n= 108)	–	1.77 (0.84–3.72)	7.02 (2.11–23.39)	1.76 (0.67–4.62)	0.88 (0.50–1.54)	14.16 (1.91–104.82)
Futsal (n= 90)	0.57 (0.27–1.19)	–	3.97 (1.09–14.42)	0.99 (0.34–2.90)	0.50 (0.24–1.03)	8.00 (1.02–62.52)
Gymnastics and trampoline (n= 62)	0.14 (0.04–0.47)	0.25 (0.07–0.92)	–	0.25 (0.06–1.05)	0.13 (0.04–0.41)	2.02 (0.21–19.38)
Judo (n= 51)	0.57 (0.22–1.50)	1.01 (0.34–2.95)	4.00 (0.96–16.74)	–	0.50 (0.19–1.30)	8.06 (0.94–69.03)
Volleyball (n= 151)	1.14 (0.65–1.99)	2.01 (0.97–4.18)	7.99 (2.42–26.41)	2.00 (0.77–5.20)	–	16.11 (2.19–118.74)
Tennis (n= 33)	0.07 (0.01–0.52)	0.12 (0.02–0.98)	0.50 (0.05–4.77)	0.12 (0.01–1.06)	0.06 (0.01–0.46)	–