ORIGINAL ARTICLES  SPORT INJURIES, REHABILITATION 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2016 November;56(11):1346-51

Copyright © 2016 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Analysis of sport-injured pattern of anterior cruciate ligament in the reconstruction period of Chinese college students

Yingjie TAN ¹, Pu ZHOU ¹, Changyu MA ² ✉

¹ College of Physical Education, Langfang Teacher’s University, Langfang, China; ² Oriental College, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, Langfang, China

BACKGROUND: In this study, we aimed to investigate the college students’ injury patterns caused by sport activities in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction stage, and to estimate the association between activities at the time of injury and the odds of simplex ACL injuries.
METHODS: A cohort of 2548 college students with primary ACL reconstruction was recruited from Hebei Province, China. Football, basketball, sprint, table tennis and badminton had been chosen as the most prevalent sports activities causing injuries in colleges. The concurrent injury patterns at the time of ACL reconstruction were simplex ACL, meniscus, cartilage, and multi-ligament injuries.
RESULTS: Compared with football, college students playing basketball were 4.95 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.61-8.76) times more likely to have simplex ACL tear, 2.31 (95% CI, 1.73-3.05) times more inclined to have lateral meniscus injury, 2.53 (95% CI, 1.22-3.67) times more likely to have a cartilage injury, and 1.93 (95% CI, 1.22-3.04) times more likely to have a medial meniscus injury. Students playing sprint were 2.04 (95% CI, 1.78-3.38) times more likely to have cartilage injury.
CONCLUSIONS: Injury patterns are associated with certain sports. Compared with football, basketball has a greater possibility of leading to simplex ACL tear, as well as medial meniscus, lateral meniscus and cartilage injuries. Additionally, injury patterns observed during surgery may reflect the forces applied to the knee by the given sports performed.