title: Auricular injury and the use of headgear in wrestlers.
abstract: Questionnaires designed to assess attitudes and use of headgear were completed by 537 Division I collegiate wrestlers. Only 35.2% of the wrestlers wore headgear all of the time during practice as opposed to 92.4% during competition, which was a statistically significant difference. The most common reason for not wearing headgear was discomfort (35%). There were 482 participating in nonschool team events, and 203 (42%) described headgear use as "seldom or never." However, there was a statistically significant difference of developing auricular hematoma while wearing headgear (26%) vs not wearing headgear (52%). There were 208 (39%) who reported a permanent auricular deformity resulting from an injury that occurred with (10.6%) or without (26.6%) headgear. These results suggest that headgear provides only partial protection and that nonuse is widespread, causing a surprisingly high frequency of permanent auricular deformities.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Ohio State University, Columbus.
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Schuller
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Dankle
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Strauss
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001290:Attitude; D004431:Ear, External / Q000293:injuries*; D006260:Head Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D009820:Ohio; D011482:Protective Devices / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013177:Sports; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014952:Wrestling