Disclosures: Roya S. Moheimani, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To quantify injuries across multiple schools over one season of 8-man football.

Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Setting : Multiple high schools in California. Participants : High school football players (N=314) from 15 different high schools that played 8-man football in California over the 2018-2019 academic year. Schools were included in this study if they kept record of demographic and injury data.

Interventions: Observational study.

Main Outcome Measures: Averages and standard deviations were reported for basic demographic data. Total injuries were quantified for the entire season for all schools. The total percent of injuries that resulted in concussions was calculated along with the percent of physician referrals needed, the percent of season ending injuries, and the percent of injuries requiring surgery.

Results: The average school size was 317 (SD± 285) students and average roster size was 21 (SD± 4.5) students. The average number of games played in a season was 9 (SD±1.5). A total of 181 injuries occurred ranging in severity from minor abrasions and strains to season ending injuries. Concussions accounted for 6.6% of all injuries. Forty percent of injuries in this study required a physician referral, 8.6% of injuries were season ending, and 4.8% required surgery. Conclusions: Injury trends in 8-man football may differ from traditional 11-man football, and need to be monitored further to allow for development of injury prevention techniques.

Level of Evidence: Level IV

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/epidemiology-of-injuries-in-high-school-8-man-football/