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. 2021 Aug 24:1-7.
doi: 10.3171/2021.1.SPINE201860. Online ahead of print.

Adult sports-related traumatic spinal injuries: do different activities predispose to certain injuries?

Blake M Hauser  1 , Saksham Gupta  1 , Samantha E Hoffman  1 , Mark M Zaki  1 , Anne A Roffler  2 , David J Cote  1 , Yi Lu  1 , John H Chi  1 , Michael W Groff  1 , Ayaz M Khawaja  1   3 , Timothy R Smith  1 , Hasan A Zaidi  1
Affiliations

Adult sports-related traumatic spinal injuries: do different activities predispose to certain injuries?

Blake M Hauser et al. J Neurosurg Spine. .

Abstract

Objective: Sports injuries are known to present a high risk of spinal trauma. The authors hypothesized that different sports predispose participants to different injuries and injury severities.

Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective cohort analysis of adult patients who experienced a sports-related traumatic spinal injury (TSI), including spinal fractures and spinal cord injuries (SCIs), encoded within the National Trauma Data Bank from 2011 through 2014. Multiple imputation was used for missing data, and multivariable linear and logistic regression models were estimated.

Results: The authors included 12,031 cases of TSI, which represented 15% of all sports-related trauma. The majority of patients with TSI were male (82%), and the median age was 48 years (interquartile range 32-57 years). The most frequent mechanisms of injury in this database were cycling injuries (81%), skiing and snowboarding accidents (12%), aquatic sports injuries (3%), and contact sports (3%). Spinal surgery was required during initial hospitalization for 9.1% of patients with TSI. Compared to non-TSI sports-related trauma, TSIs were associated with an average 2.3-day increase in length of stay (95% CI 2.1-2.4; p < 0.001) and discharge to or with rehabilitative services (adjusted OR 2.6, 95% CI 2.4-2.7; p < 0.001). Among sports injuries, TSIs were the cause of discharge to or with rehabilitative services in 32% of cases. SCI was present in 15% of cases with TSI. Within sports-related TSIs, the rate of SCI was 13% for cycling injuries compared to 41% and 49% for contact sports and aquatic sports injuries, respectively. Patients experiencing SCI had a longer length of stay (7.0 days longer; 95% CI 6.7-7.3) and a higher likelihood of adverse discharge disposition (adjusted OR 9.69, 95% CI 8.72-10.77) compared to patients with TSI but without SCI.

Conclusions: Of patients with sports-related trauma discharged to rehabilitation, one-third had TSIs. Cycling injuries were the most common cause, suggesting that policies to make cycling safer may reduce TSI.

Keywords: sports-related injury; trauma; traumatic spinal cord injury; traumatic spinal injury.

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Figures

Figure 1A:
Figure 1A:. Mechanisms of Injury.
The majority of adult sports-related TSI were attributed to cycling related injuries, with skiing/snowboarding, watersports/swimming, contact sports, skateboarding/rollerblading, and other mechanisms of injury also reflected in this cohort.
Figure 1B:
Figure 1B:. Spinal Cord Injury Prevalence by Mechanism of Injury.
Prevalence of traumatic spinal cord injury among patients with sports-related TSI varied based on mechanism of injury. Traumatic spinal cord injuries were most prevalent in patients with watersports/swimming and contact sports-related injuries.
Figure 2:
Figure 2:. Odds of Spinal Surgery during Initial Hospitalization by Mechanism of Injury.
There was no significant difference in likelihood of undergoing spinal surgery, defined as laminectomy and/or vertebral fracture repair, during initial hospitalization as stratified by mechanism of injury. Patients with contact sports-related TSI were the reference group for this analysis.
Figure 3:
Figure 3:. Length of Stay.
In an adjusted model, patients with sports-related TSI and TSCI had significantly longer hospital stays than patients with non-TSI sports-related injuries.
Figure 4:
Figure 4:. Discharge Disposition.
Compared to patients with non-TSI sports-related injuries, patients with sports-related TSI were significantly more likely to require ICU care, to experience adverse discharge, and to die or require hospice care during the initial hospital admission.
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