Timing of Injuries and Exposure Type in Division I College Football: A 4-Year Program Analysis Michael K. Krill 1,2, Rachel L. Tatarski 1, James R. Borchers 1,3, Timothy E. Hewett 4 1 The Ohio State University, Sports Medicine Research Institute, Columbus, OH 2 Florida Atlantic University, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Boca Raton, FL 3 The Ohio State University, Department of Family Medicine, Columbus, OH 4 Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Center, Rochester, MN We would like to give a special thanks to the Ohio State University football program for their participation in this study. Standard Text Box Arial, 28 pts. Line Spacing 0.9 Before Paragraph 0.4 After Paragraph 0.0 Text Box with Bullet Points Arial, 28 pts. Line Spacing 0.9 Before Paragraph 0.4 After Paragraph Text Box with Numbered Points 2.Arial, 28 pts. 3.Line Spacing 0.9 Before Paragraph 0.4 After Paragraph 0.0 BackgroundStatistical AnalysisSummary and ConclusionPurposeMethodsReferences Acknowledgements Skill players suffered the most injuries in both practice and games. Skill players suffer a majority of total practice injuries (53.2%) and experience the highest proportion of a group’s practice injuries (71.1%). Line players suffer a similar proportion of total injuries in practice and games (Table 2). Other players experienced the closest proportion of an equal proportion of group injuries in games and practice (57.9% practice to 42.1% game). Standard Text Box Arial 35 pts. Line Spacing 0.9 Before Paragraph 0.4 After Paragraph Shankar PR, et al. Am J Sports Med Tietze DC, et al. Ann Sports Med Resi Steiner ME, et al. Sports Health Dick R, et al. J Athl Train During the football seasons, athletes were evaluated by a team physician for musculoskeletal injuries and concussions using the NCAA Injury Surveillance System (ISS) reportable injury definition during games and practice in the pre-season and regular season. Players were divided into three position groups: 1.Line – offensive and defensive linemen 2.Skill – running back, wide receiver, defensive back 3.Other – linebacker, tight end, special teams, quarterback The season was split in to three periods: 1.Pre-season – all fall practices up until the day before the first game 2.1st half – day of the first game up until the Friday of the eighth week of the season 3.2nd half – started on the Saturday during the eighth week of the season (either game or bye week) until the final game of the regular season or conference championship game Examine the effect(s) of period of the season and exposure activity (game or practice) on injuries suffered by position group. Results Injury incidence by position groups was compared by time in the season (pre-, 1 st or 2 nd half) and exposure activity (game or practice). Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables. NCAA continues to establish and implement guidelines and rule changes in efforts to improve player safety. Injury rates have been reported looking at different exposure types (all reported in injuries/per 1000 athlete-exposures). Overall: Games: Pre-season practices: High school injury analysis by position revealed positions that suffered the greatest percentages of all injuries with surveys from 100 US high schools over 5 seasons (10,100 football injuries reported). 1.Offensive lineman – 18.3% 2.Running backs – 16.3% 3.Linebackers – 14.9% 4.Wide receivers – 11.9% 168 overall injuries documented over four seasons (425 individual athlete-seasons were monitored). Most injuries occurred earlier in the season. The fewest injuries occurred in the 2 nd half of the season (Table 1). Skill players suffered the most total injuries during all three periods of the season. Skill players experienced a majority of all preseason injuries (56.5%). Line players suffered the largest percentage of their injuries in the 1 st half of the season (42.6%) with similar percentages of line injuries in the pre-season and 2 nd half of the season. Skill and other players experienced the largest proportions of their injuries in the pre-season with decreasing percentages as the season progressed. Conclusion Proportion of injuries a position group suffered to the total number of injuries in each specific time period (pre-, 1 st half, 2 nd half) in the season a Proportion of each groups’ injuries to the total number of injuries in each specific exposure type (practice or game) b Proportion of each groups’ injuries in each exposure type (game or practice) compared to the total injuries a group sustained Table 2. Injuries by position group and game or practice Table 1. Injuries by position group and time in the season Position groups appear to suffer the greatest proportion of their injuries in different periods of the season. 1.Skill players experience a majority in the pre-season, decreasing as the season progresses 2.Line and other players suffer a majority in the 1 st half of the season, with similar proportions in the pre-season and 2 nd half of the season Position groups suffer the greatest proportion of their injuries differently depending on exposure types (game or practice). 1.All position groups suffer a majority of their injuries in practice; however, skill players suffer the highest percentage of their injuries in practice (71.1%) 2.Other players experience the highest proportion of their position group injuries in the game setting (42.1%) Limitation: Small sample size without athlete-exposure data prevented a standardized value (injury rate) to improve analysis. Position groups may show distinct injury timing patterns allowing specialized injury prevention to optimize player safety. Figure 1. Total position group injuries suffered by time in the season