Nearly half of all ankle sprains in the United States occur while a patient is participating in a sport, with basketball topping the list as the most common sport for injury.
According to Dr. Brian Waterman of the William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas, of the sprains that occur during athletic activity, 41.1 percent took place on the basketball court. A patient was more than 4 times as likely to suffer an ankle sprain on the basketball court than on the football field, the second leading sport for ankle sprain in America at 9.3 percent. Soccer and running accounted for 7.9 and 7.2 percent of ankle sprains, respectively.
“To our knowledge, this is the first large-scale, descriptive epidemiological study of ankle sprain in the general population of the U.S.,” Waterman said. “Our hope is that with the identification of these risk factors, we can recommend further prospective studies to evaluate the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of preventative measures such as prophylactic bracing and proprioceptive training in targeted, high-risk populations.”
Waterman also noted that ankle sprain treatment costs Americans about $2 billion each year.
Ankle Findings
For their research, Waterman and colleagues studied patient data collected over a five-year period in the early 2000s. They found:
- More than half of all ankle sprains (53.5 percent) occurred in individuals between the ages of 10 and 24.
- Males and females had similar rates of ankle sprains, but they peaked at different ages. Males suffered the most sprains between the ages of 15 and 19, while females had the most sprains between 10 and 14.
- Males were much more likely to sprain their ankle than females between the age of 15 and 24, but females had the higher rate of incidence after the age of 30.
- African Americans had the highest rate of ankle sprain, followed by Native Americans, whites, and Hispanics.
- Outside of sports, falling down the stairs (26.6 percent) and tripping (6.7 percent) were the most frequent causes of ankle sprain.
- Males were twice as likely to injure their ankles at a recreational facility or athletic field than females, and women were more likely to suffer an ankle sprain in their home.
Dr. Waterman said the incidence of ankle sprains in America is likely much higher, as the study only analyzed data collected from emergency room visits. He estimated that roughly two-thirds of ankle sprains are treated outside of the emergency department.
Dr. Silverman comments
It seems like we write about an athlete who suffered a sprain or a tear nearly every week, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that sports are a leading cause of ankle sprains. Bracing and strength training can help prevent sprains, but anyone who has played sports knows that you can’t avoid a sprain forever.
Re-strengthening the ankle after the fact is key, as there have been studies that show sprains are more likely when one ankle is compensating for the other. Take the necessary time off and work to re-condition your ankle after a sprain.
Related source: MedPage Today
