title: Baseball and softball sliding injuries:  incidence and correlates during one high school league varsity season.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To estimate injury rates associated with sliding in high school baseball and softball.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Community high school athletic events.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten high school varsity baseball and softball teams over 1 season.
  
  
  METHODS
  All sliding attempts were recorded during each game and recorded as headfirst, feetfirst, or diveback. Base type, playing surface, and field conditions were also noted.
  
  
  METHODS
  Injury exposure rates by game exposures and sliding/diveback exposures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Data were collected from 153 baseball games and 166 softball games. A greater proportion of slides were associated with injury in softball than in baseball (42.0 and 4.9 per 1000 slides; P < 0.05). Headfirst slides led to more injuries than feetfirst slides in baseball (16.8 vs 0 per 1000 slides; P < 0.05) but not in softball (55 vs 35 per 1000 slides; P = 0.74).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  More powerful studies are required to determine whether efforts to prevent baseball sliding injuries at the high school level should focus on better education in sliding technique or changes in equipment. Softball players are vulnerable to injury when wearing inadequate protective sliding apparel.
authors.affiliation: University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Sports Medicine Fellowship at Via Christi, Wichita, Kansas, USA. Mark.stovak@viachristi.org
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stovak
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Parikh
authors.forename: Anne T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001484:Baseball / Q000293:injuries*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012574:Schools / Q000706:statistics & numerical data