title: Injury data of major international field hockey tournaments.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Detailed injury data are not available for international tournaments in field hockey. We investigated the epidemiology of field hockey injuries during major International Hockey Federation (Fédération Internationale de Hockey, FIH) tournaments in 2013.
  
  
  METHODS
  FIH injury reports were used for data collection. All major FIH tournaments for women (n=5) and men (n=11) in 2013 were included. The main focus of this study was to assess the pattern, time, site on the pitch, body site and mechanism of each of the injuries. We calculated the average number of injuries per match and the number of injuries per 1000 player match hours.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average number of injuries was 0.7 (95% CI 0.5 to 1.0) per match in women's tournaments and 1.2 (95% CI 0.8 to 1.7) per match in men's tournaments. The number of injuries per 1000 player match hours ranged from 23.4 to 44.2 (average 29.1; 95% CI 18.6 to 39.7) in women and 20.8 to 90.9 (average 48.3; 95% CI 30.9 to 65.8) in men. Most injuries occurred in the circle (n=25, 50%, in women, n=95, 51%, in men). The rate of injuries increased after the first quarter. Injuries to the head and face (n=20, 40%) were most common in women. The head/face (n=51, 27%) and the thigh/knee (n=52, 28%) were equally affected in men. The ball caused the most injuries, followed by the stick, collisions and tripping/falling. There were no deaths or injuries that required hospital treatment in the entire cohort.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Field hockey has a low incidence of acute injuries during competition.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery and Paediatric Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt/M, Germany.
authors.forename: Till-Martin
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Theilen
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH), Medical Panel, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Wiebke
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mueller-Eising
authors.affiliation: Fédération Internationale de Hockey (FIH), Medical Panel, Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wefers Bettink
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatric Surgery and Paediatric Urology, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt/M, Germany.
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Rolle
mesh_terms: D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006688:Hockey / Q000293:injuries* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male
keywords: Field hockey; Injury