Prevalence Of Game-Related Hip Pointers Between High School And Collegiate Football Athletes

Hip pointers are typically seen as minor trauma with little cause for concern. Despite the possibility of long-term sequelae, limited research has been conducted on this topic. PURPOSE: To quantify hip pointers during high school and collegiate football games. METHODS: A total of 89 high schools and 41 universities in the contiguous US participated over 12 (2010-21) and 16 (2006-21) seasons, respectively. Outcomes of interest were total injuries, injury severity, injury category, primary type of trauma, injury situation, imaging and surgical procedures, player and skill position, and environmental factors. Injury incidence rates were calculated as injuries per 10 games. RESULTS: Of the 6031 high school (62.8%) and collegiate (37.2%) games analyzed, 170 total injuries were reported, with 63 (37.1%) in high school and 107 (62.9%) in college. MANOVAs indicated a significant competitive effect by total injuries (F4,165 = 3.459; P = .010), primary type of trauma (F10,159 = 2.967; P = .003), and injury situation (F9,160 = 1.993; P = .037). No significant main effect was observed between competition levels by injury severity (F2,167 = 1.457; P = .236), injury category (F1,168 = 0.402; P = .669), imaging and surgical procedures (F2,167 = 0.356; P = .785), player position (F2,167 = 0.264; P = .768), skill position (F7,162 = 0.685; P = .704), or environmental factors (F7,162 = 1.056; P = .387). Post hoc analyses indicated significantly lower (p < .05) incidence of injury in high school vs college, in regard to total injuries [0.2 (95% CI, 0.1-0.2) vs 0.5 (0.4-0.6)], contusions [0.2 (95% CI, 0.1-0.2) vs 0.5 (0.4-0.6)], rushing [0.1 (95% CI, 0.1-0.1) vs 0.2 (0.1-0.2)], and pass-catching [0.0 (95% CI, 0.0-0.0) vs 0.1 (0.1-0.2)] respectively. Hip pointers were classified as minor (92.9%) and substantial (7.1%), based on time loss (0-6 and 7-21 days, respectively). Of documented hip pointers, 77% resulted from player-to-player impact. No significant difference (P > .05) in hip pointers resulting from player-to-surface impacts was found between artificial turf and natural grass. CONCLUSION: Significantly greater incidences of hip pointers were found during collegiate play, primarily involving rushing and pass-catching situations. Attention to enhanced protective equipment of the hip is recommended at these competitive levels.