Group 5–9

16 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0

Group 3–4

Group 0–2

a) Number of players receiving injury

11 9 defenders 8 midfielders

Figure 3: Part of body sustaining injury from hockey (and other sports) among boys and girls in each BS group

midfielders. Goalkeepers were the least injured and received the lowest number of injuries, as illustrated in figures 4a and 4b. The rate of injury per player was 1 in 1.3 for defenders, 1 in 1.45 for forwards, 1 in 2.5 for goalkeepers and 1 in 3.1 for midfielders.

Nature of injury and time lost from training or competition The nature of injury, that is, hockey- related overuse injury, hockey-related contact injury or injury in other sport is illustrated in Figure 5. Girls sustained relatively more non-contact injuries, while boys suffered more contact injuries. Both genders reported several injuries sustained in other sports which impacted on their fitness to play hockey.

In total, there were 1,615 playing

days lost from hockey over two seasons. Of these, 1,000 were due to hockey-related non-contact or overuse injuries, 191 days lost due to hockey- related contact injuries, and 424 due to injuries in other sports. The girls missed 575 days due to non-contact injuries, 7 days due to contact injuries and 373 days because of injuries in other sports, while the boys missed 425, 184 and 51 days, respectively.

DISCUSSION Hypermobility status

Beighton subgroupings of 0–2, 3–4 and 5–9 were used because they have been reliability tested (8). However, some studies have opted for 0–3, 4–6 and 7–9 (10,12). The use of different cut-off points in the literature makes comparison between studies difficult

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and any comparison should be treated with caution. The overall prevalence of hypermobility in this study was 33%. By gender, the prevalence was 52% in females and 16% in males. There was a satisfactory correlation between the BS and the self-administered questionnaire suggesting, as in one previous study (7), that it could be used in place of the BS where face-to-face contact is not possible. Decoster et al (13) reported an overall prevalence of 24% in male and female lacrosse players using a

BS cut-off point of ≥5 (13). When considered by gender, the prevalence in the lacrosse study was 33% in females and 16% in males, demonstrating (as in our study) a greater prevalence of hypermobility amongst females. Studies on all-male participants in rugby and football reported a

b) Total injuries received

17 forwards 15 defenders 16 midfielders

Figure 4: Number of players receiving injuries (a) according to playing position and total number of injuries received (b) by players in each position

7 goal keepers

4 goal keepers

Overuse

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

0

(a) Boys (BS groups) 0–2

3–4 5–9 0–2 3–4 (b) Girls (BS groups) Figure 5: Category of injury in (a) boys and (b) girls in different hypermobility BS groups sportEX medicine 2010;45(Jul):17-22 5–9

Contact

Other

Shoulder Neck

Back Pelvis

Hamstring Quad

Knee Shin Calf Ankle/foot Other

No. of injuries

No. of injuries