Wrestling injuries.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this chapter is to review critically the existing studies on the epidemiology of pediatric wrestling injuries and to discuss suggestions for injury prevention and further research.

DATA SOURCES: Data were obtained from the sports medicine and science literature since 1951. Literature searches were performed using the National Library of Medicine, Pubmed, Medline, Grateful Med, Sports Sciences, SportsDiscus. Keywords used included "Wrestling, Wrestle, Wrestling Injuries, Fractures, and Dermatologic".

MAIN RESULTS: Only eight prospective or retrospective studies were found dealing with pediatric wrestling injuries and that provided sufficient information to allow the estimation of injury rates. Exposure-based injury rates were between 6.0 and 7.6 injuries per 1,000 athletic-exposures. Injury rates increased with age, experience, and level of participation. The head/spine/trunk was the body region that incurred the greatest frequency of injuries, followed by the upper and lower extremities.

CONCLUSIONS: There are several potential areas for decreasing injury risk in wrestlers, including equipment, coaching, officiating and training. However, informed decisions with regard to preventing injuries are dependent upon the quality of the basic epidemiological data available, and at this time, analyses of risk factors and potential preventive measures are lacking.