Common injuries among Nigerian games players.

The study investigated the common types and sites of injuries which were sustained by male soccer, basketball and field hockey players during a period of 8 weeks of intensive training and competition. In all, 170 soccer players, 127 basketball players and 212 hockey players drawn from various clubs in Nigeria formed the subjects of the study, a total of 509 patients. Questionnaires on the prospective injury experience were handed over to the club members. A total of 630, 308 and 641 injuries were recorded in soccer, basketball and hockey respectively. In soccer the common injuries were sprains and strains (45.6%), bruises and cuts (27.0%) and concussion (15.2%). The lower limb had the highest number of injuries (49.1%). In basketball common injuries were sprains and strains (41.5%), bruises and cuts (26.7%) and swelling and blisters (22.1%). The most common site of injury was the upper limb which sustained 45.8% of the injuries. The common injuries in hockey were bruises and cuts (50.8%), swelling and blisters (21.5%) and sprains and strains (20.2%). The lower limb sustained the highest number of injuries (57.5%). INTRODUCTION Knowledge of accidents in soccer, basketball and field hockey may be useful to the coaches and players to predict the possibility and frequency of their occurrence. Although in some countries investigations have been carried out to study the common sites and types of injuries in popular games and sports, no such study has yet been carried out in Nigeria. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine the sites and types of common injuries associated with the competitive sports popular in Nigeria. Groh (1972) reported that in West Germany sports accidents accounted for 10% of all hospitalised accident cases and football had highest accidents in all types of sports. Williams (1975) stated that approximately 5% of all cases seen in accident departments of British hospitals were due to sporting injuries. From a study of sports injuries between 1951 and 1968 at the University of Toronto, Macintosh et al (1972) noticed Canadian football, wrestling and soccer as relatively accident prone. Earlier, Skrien (1 970) had noted that in a total of 1068 basketball injuries, those to the ankle alone accounted for 31.6% of injuries. In another survey of 1511 injuries, Gray (1974) reported an incidence of 138 injuries due to hockey and 157 injuries due to basketball. Weightman and Browne (1974) noted that 65% of all football injuries were located in the lower 129 group.bmj.com on June 22, 2017 Published by http://bjsm.bmj.com/ Downloaded from