Epidemiology of American Football Injuries at Universities in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Background: College-level American football injury data are routinely collected; however, data relating to American football injuries at universities in the United Kingdom have never been reported. Purpose: To describe the epidemiology of UK university American football injuries. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: An online survey tool was used to collect the injury data of 410 players from 56 UK university teams who participated in the 2014-2015 British Universities and College Sports American football season. Survey data were collected from January to February 2016 and were analyzed to determine the incidence and patterns of injury. Results: Overall, 710 injuries and 204 concussions were self-reported among the 410 participants, of which 334 (81.5%) were injured and 131 (32.0%) experienced concussion symptoms. The rate of injury per 100 athlete-seasons was greater in defensive players (195.3) than offensive players (155.1). The most common injuries were knee and ankle ligament injuries. Most injuries were classified as severe (time loss of >4 weeks). Conclusion: UK university American football injuries differ markedly from those reported for US colleges. UK university players appear to have less playing experience, greater concussion risks, more severe injuries, and a greater proportion of injuries in defensive players versus offensive players.

Concussion Reporting and Safeguarding Policy Development in British American Football: An Essential Agenda

“…One potential risk of limited knowledge and experience of playing the game is increased injury incidence requiring medical intervention. Bayram et al (2020) have reported that UK university AF injuries to be comparably different to US collegiate football injuries. Specifically, UK university players were found to have a greater risk of concussion and more severe injuries.…”

“…Running backs and linebackers were found to have the highest injury rates, potentially due to their involvement in high-speed tackles (Edwards et al, 2018;Ward et al, 2018). Moreover, injury rates in offensive and defensive linemen were proportionally higher than US collegiate athletes (Badgeley et al, 2013;Dompier et al, 2015;Bayram et al, 2020). It is proposed that these findings are due to small roster sizes found in the UK game, meaning more game time for individuals.…”

“…American football was first popularized in the UK in the early 1980s (Maguire, 2011), and soon, a league was developed under the title of the American Football League (UK) (Needham, n.d.), which was replaced by BAFA in 2010 (Crawford, 2016). AF was first played at the university level in 1985 as a four-team league (Bayram et al, 2020). However, the game is now played under the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) umbrella.…”

“…Unlike in the US where players are brought up playing the game from a young age (Findler, 2015), few UK athletes begin playing AF until later into their teens or early adulthood. Indeed, in their review of UK BUCS AF player injuries, Bayram et al (2020) found that 39.5% of the players had no playing experience before the season began, and over 80% of the athletes started playing the sport at university that year. One potential risk of limited knowledge and experience of playing the game is increased injury incidence requiring medical intervention.…”

“…It is proposed that these findings are due to small roster sizes found in the UK game, meaning more game time for individuals. Furthermore, the provision of strength and conditioning, funding, coaching, officiating, and medical facilities is far from comparable to that of the US sport (Bayram et al, 2020).…”