Epidemiology Of Injuries Sustained By High School Female Wrestlers, 2009/10 Through 2021/22

PURPOSE: Recently, the growth in participation in girls’ wrestling has been greater than in any other high school (HS) sport. The objective of this study was to describe injuries sustained by HS female wrestlers and compare those to injuries sustained by male wrestlers. METHODS: Injuries sustained by wrestlers were collected via HS Reporting Information Online (RIO) during the 2009/10-2021/22 academic years. Distribution of injuries by diagnosis, mechanism, activity, and time loss were examined and compared by sex of the injured athlete and sex of the opponent (collected from 2014/15-2021/22) using injury proportion ratios (IPRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). 95% CIs not including 1.0 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Overall, 3.6% of reported HS wrestling injuries were sustained by females. In 2021/22, 9.5% of injuries were sustained by females. Female wrestlers sustained a greater proportion of sprains/strains (41.6%) than males (35.2%) (IPR:1.18; 95% CI:1.01-1.38) while males sustained a greater proportion of skin infections (10.7% vs. 4.3%) (IPR:2.46; 95% CI:1.34-4.54). Females had a greater proportion of injuries related to contact with the playing surface (37.7%) compared to males (30.3%) (IPR:1.24; 95% CI:1.05-1.47). 42.9% of injuries among females were related to takedowns compared to 36.5% among males (IPR:1.18; 95% CI:1.01-1.37). Time loss was similar by sex. Diagnosis, mechanism, and activity among female wrestlers were similar by sex of the opponent. 42.5% of injuries that occurred while a female was wrestling another female resulted in a time loss of less than one week compared to 25.9% of injuries that occurred while a female was wrestling a male (IPR:1.64; 95% CI:1.06-2.55). While not statistically significant, a greater proportion of injuries that occurred while a female was wrestling a male resulted in a time loss of 22 days or more (15.3%) compared to injuries that occurred while a female was wrestling a female (6.3%) (IPR:2.60; 95% CI:0.97-6.97). CONCLUSIONS: Diagnosis and injury mechanism differed by sex of the HS wrestler. In addition, among female wrestlers, time loss differed by sex of the opponent. As the popularity of HS girls’ wrestling continues to grow, it is necessary to collect data that can be used for evidence-based injury prevention efforts. Funding for HS RIO was provided by the National Federation of State High School Associations, National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants R49/CE000674-01 and R49/CE001172-01, DonJoy Orthotics, and EyeBlack.