SPORTS INJURY METHODOLOGY

The standard instrument of the SUPERSTUDY® is an 8 1/2" x 14" questionnaire booklet sent every year to 25,000 households across the U.S., drawn from the consumer mail panel of NFO. The January 2003 versions contained a new section on sports injuries (illustrated on p. 23). Four of seven questions in this new battery were open-ended, requiring the creation of coding categories.

The vast majority of the 15,063 study respondents had participated in at least one sport or activity throughout the year; of that number 1,286 had sustained a sports injury on at least one occasion. If an individual respondent had incurred more than one injury in the past 12 months, he or she was instructed to report the most serious one. Since multiple injuries were not recorded, the projected nationwide total of 20,145,000 sports injuries for 2002 is no doubt understated — but probably not by much; and this deficit is almost certainly dominated by minor mishaps.

A Comprehensive Study of Sports Injuries in the U.S. is a general topline study with a broad epidemiological objective: the compilation, enumeration, categorization and analysis of all sports injuries in the U.S. — not just serious accidents requiring emergency room treatment. More than 200 coding categories capture the full range and diversity of individual sports injuries as well as the richness of consumer vocabulary describing these incidents. But the level of detail found in accident reports and actuarial databases is beyond the scope of the present research. It was not possible, for example, to discern whether the incident occurred while batting or base running; precisely where on the court the injury occurred; if the accident happened during a scrimmage or game; or if protective equipment was worn at the moment of injury, etc.