Epidemiological study of foot and ankle injuries in recreational sports

OBJECTIVE This is a retrospective study showing the incidence, type and extent of injuries occurring in the foot and/or ankle as a result of recreational sports practice. METHODS We treated 131 patients, of which 123 were male and 8 female, with a history of trauma and pain in the foot and/or ankle after the practicing recreational sports. The average age of the male patients was 24.53 years. The evaluation was done through a research protocol, which contained the variables age, sex, diagnosis, and type of recreational sport. RESULTS The sports were classified according to the American Medical Association, which divides them into contact and non-contact sports. 82.4% of the sample practiced contact sports, while 17.6% practiced sports classified as non-contact. CONCLUSIONS The sprained ankle was the most frequent type of injury, especially those of grade I and II. Soccer was the sport responsible for the highest incidence of injuries and among its various forms the indoor soccer presented the highest frequency of injuries (35%). In the non-contact sports, the highest incidence was found in running. Level of Evidence IV, Case Series.