Incidence and descriptive epidemiology of injuries to college ultimate players.

CONTEXT The burden of injuries to college ultimate players has never been fully described. OBJECTIVE To quantify the injury rate in ultimate players and describe the diagnoses, anatomic locations, and mechanisms of injuries. DESIGN Descriptive epidemiology study. SETTING College ultimate teams in the United States during the 2012 season. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S) Initial injury rate per 1000 athlete-exposures. RESULTS The initial injury rate in college ultimate players was 12.64 per 1000 athlete-exposures; the rate did not differ between men and women (P = .5). Bivariate analysis indicated that injuries occurred twice as often during games as during practices, men were more likely than women to be injured when laying out for the disc, and men were more likely to incur strains and sprains than women. CONCLUSIONS Injury patterns to college ultimate players were similar to those for athletes in other National Collegiate Athletic Association sports. This is the first study to systematically describe injuries to ultimate players.