Yisi Daisy Ji, MD, DMD
If you’ve been watching the OIympics over the past two weeks and thinking about trying one of the sports that you’ve seen, you’re not alone.
Past research has shown there are short- and long-term increases in layperson sports participation coinciding with the Olympic games (We’re seriously thinking about picking up the slalom canoe).
While trying out new sports can be good for both your physical and mental health, it can also increase your risk of injuries.
Yisi Daisy Ji, MD, DMD, a former chief resident in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital (now with the Providence Portland Medical Center in Oregon), is senior author of a recent study in the Journal of Craniofacial Surgery, Hospital Admissions Associated With Head and Neck Injuries From Olympic-style Sports and Activities Between 2010 and 2022. Here are five things to know:
Ji and team used the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) database to identify subjects with head and neck injuries resulting from Olympic-style sports and activities over the past decade. They identified 176,000 subjects meeting the study criteria.
Between 2010 and 2022, the Olympic-style sports with the most head/neck injuries include cycling, basketball, baseball and soccer. The sports with the least risk of head and neck injuries included curling, fencing and badminton.
Due to the high velocity nature of the sports, head and neck injuries from cycling, mountain biking and horseback riding were the most likely to require hospitalization.
Cycling accounted for 30.2% of all head and neck injuries, 56.2% of hospitalized injuries and 28.6% of non-hospitalized injuries, making it the most prevalent cause of injury in all three categories.
Over 90% of an estimated 62,267 cyclist injuries occurred due to an encounter with a moving vehicle, the researchers found.
Protective helmets have been shown to decrease the risk of head and brain injuries by 63% to 88% among cyclists and reduce the risk of intracranial injuries from 60% to 5% among horseback riders. Nevertheless, helmets may not provide enough protection to prevent serious injury or death in certain scenarios.
One surprising finding from the study was that the odds of hospitalization after head and neck injury from combat sports such as boxing or martial arts were not significantly different from those of baseball (which was used as a reference sport).
This may be due to the close regulation of these sports by referees and/or judges, who ensure the rules are being followed and are closely monitoring the mental and physical state of each participant.
Limitations and Next Steps
The researchers note that their use of the NEISS database has several limitations. For one, it only contains data on individuals who went to the emergency department for care, and likely missed individuals who reported to outpatient clinics or urgent care for their injuries.
The database also does not contain detailed information about treatments and outcomes, and there may be demographic and other risk factors contributing to the injury risk and severity not captured by the database.
Finally, future studies should evaluate the effectiveness of current safety protocols in cycling, mountain biking and horseback riding to identify new ways to reduce serious head and neck injuries.
In the meantime, make sure to check with your physician before starting a new sport, follow all safety rules and be sure to wear a helmet if you decide to take up cycling, mountain biking or horse riding—and we'll be sure to wear helmets if we ever take up slalom canoe!
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