Injuries among wrestlers in school and college tournaments
R. H. Strauss and R. R. Lanese
We studied four wrestling tournaments that totaled 1,049 participants of
grade school, high school, and college age levels. Two clearly serious
injuries occurred: a wrist fracture and an elbow dislocation. Knee and
ankle sprains of mild to moderate severity were the most common diagnoses.
No injuries to the pinna occurred probably because ear protectors were
worn. Nine- to 14-year-old boys were injured least frequently (3.8%),
partly because their matches were the shortest. The overall injury rate for
high school and college wrestlers was 12.0%. Risk of injury did not vary
with weight class or with successive matches. Thirty-nine percent of all
injuries were because of aggravation of old injuries. Thus, rehabilitation
after injury is believed to be an important preventive measure. These
findings suggest that, although most injuries in wrestling are not severe,
attendance at tournaments by medically trained personnel is warranted.
