Head, Hands, Knees and Ankles, Knees and Ankles: Injury Profiles of Women and Girls Playing Community Australian Football.

Abstract

Background: Women's participation in all football codes (including Australian Football [AF]) is increasing rapidly. To guide injury prevention strategies, the authors aimed to describe the current and lifetime prevalence of significant musculoskeletal injuries and concussions for women and girls playing community AF.

Hypothesis: Women will have high rates of injury associated with playing AF.

Study design: Cross-sectional survey.

Level of evidence: Level 3.

Methods: Participants were Victorian community AF players from 165 participating teams (<16 years, <18 years, senior women's). Demographics, injury prevalence, and health outcomes are reported descriptively. To explore relationships between sociodemographic factors and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury history, the authors fitted univariate logistic regression models. Independent variables were age, body mass index, number of career AF games, sport experience, location (metropolitan/regional), and socio-economic index.

Results: A total of 2435 players (95% of players enrolled in the trial), aged 24 ± 7 years completed the survey. One-quarter (n = 619, 25%) reported a current injury, and half (n = 1238, 51%) reported a previous significant injury. The most common injury sites were knee (n = 160 26% current, n = 403 33% previous), ankle (n = 130 21% current, n = 427 35% previous), and hand/fingers (n = 100 16% current, n = 317 26% previous). Self-reported previous ACL injury (n = 139, 6%) and concussion (n = 1335, 55%) were also prevalent. Increasing age (odds ratio [OR], 1.07; 95% CI, 1.05-1.09) and more career games (OR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.24-3.97) were associated with ACL injury history.

Conclusion: Women and girls playing community AF reported high rates of significant injury. Injury prevention programs should target the most prevalent injury sites: head (concussion), ankle, knee, and hand/fingers.

Clinical relevance: These findings highlight high injury rates for women playing AF and will be invaluable in shaping injury prevention strategies.