[Epidemiology of sports injuries. A 15 year analysis of sports orthopedic ambulatory care].

Analysis of a special outpatient department of sports orthopaedics covers a 15-year period (1972-1986); the department studies by us was initially part of the Orthopaedic Hospital of the University of Heidelberg, whereas later on we continued our studies at the Sports Clinic in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt. A grand total of 13,296 sportsmen treated in these departments was assessed, having a total of 15,212 injuries or lesions/damage due to sports activities. All cases were systematically recorded right from the beginning. In 1986, 19.3 million Federal German sportsmen were members of the Federal German Sports Association (DSB), i.e. 31.4% of the populations. The number of sports-related accidents that occurred per year is estimated at 1.5 million, i.e. more than 15% of the total number of accidents. The absolutely highest incidence rate of accidents is seen in popular sports such as football (i.e. "soccer", the most widely practised sport in the Federal Republic), skiing, handball, volleyball, track-and-field athletics, and gymnastics and physical training. The major part of the accidents involves the lower extremities (66.6%), followed by the arms (22.8%) and the vertebral column (4.7%). In respect of diagnoses, lesions of capsular ligaments are by far the most frequent ones. "Distortions" are stated to occur in 32.9% of the cases, severe injuries such as fractures, luxations and ruptures of ligaments representing a total of 33.6%. The incidence rate of contusions is increasing (12.6%), and so is that of lesions of the muscles and tendons (10.4%). 76.5% of the injured persons are men, with an age bracket peak at 20-29 years, followed by the group of 10-19 years. Analysis of the lesions yields valuable pointers to possibilities of accident or injury prevention within the individual sports categories.