Sports injuries in Chilean university athletes

The epidemiology of sports injuries is the study of the variables that participate in the occurrence of injuries in a population, and their distribution. Its ultimate purpose is to provide information to establish justified prevention measures. In Chile, sports practice has increased in recent years. Despite this, there is no antecedent of studies that analyze sports injuries in Chile. This article aims to identify the distribution of injuries of young Chilean university students in different sports disciplines. A total of 84 athletes of both genders, belonging to university football, basketball, and volleyball teams were followed up for a period of 6 months, recording all the injuries that occurred. In our area, most injuries occur more frequently in men. They are more frequent in the practice of basketball (40,7%), followed by soccer (35,2%) and volleyball (24,1%). They mainly affect the lower extremities, especially the ankle joint, followed by knee and wrist-hand. Capsule-ligament injuries (40,7%) and muscle injuries (16,7%) are the most common. The amount of injuries due to overuse and traumatic origin were similar, the latter being related mainly to a direct contact mechanism (76.9%). For this population it was more common to be injured during training than in matches.