Abstract
Describe the epidemiology of meniscal injuries in US high school boys' football, ice hockey, and lacrosse. High school sports-related injury data was collected from 2008/09-2010/11 for boys' football, ice hockey, and lacrosse. We calculated overall injury rates, meniscal injury rates, and rate ratios. From 2008/09-2010/11, certified athletic trainers reported a total of 7902 football, 528 ice hockey, and 758 lacrosse injuries during 2,065,536 football athlete exposures [AEs], 220,974 ice hockey AEs, and 339,971 lacrosse AEs. Overall injury rates were 3.83 per 1000 AEs in football, 2.39 in ice hockey, and 2.23 in lacrosse. Competition injury rates were significantly higher than practice for football (12.3 vs. 2.12 per 1000 AEs; RR 5.79, 95% CI 5.54-6.05), ice hockey (5.84 vs. 0.75 per 1000 AEs; RR 7.81, 95% CI 6.34-9.62), and lacrosse (4.40 vs. 1.27 per 1000 AEs; RR 3.47, 95% CI 3.00-4.01). Knee injuries accounted for 15.4% of all injuries in these sports, and 8.3% of all knee injuries involved the meniscus.