Background Injury assessment is an essential part of injury prevention, but methods of injury recording vary between different kinds of sport and levels of competition.

Objective Analysis of acute injuries in international field hockey tournaments using video footage.

Design Retrospective study of acute injuries at international field hockey tournaments.

Setting Video footage was assessed and scenes with an acute injury were selected. Acute injury was defined as any new musculoskeletal complaint or concussion, which leads to time stoppage at the game by the umpire.

Patients (or Participants) Medical clips were included from the World League 2015 and Champions Trophy 2015 (women, men). Four researchers independently analyzed video footage from 212 matches.

Interventions (or Assessment of Risk Factors) The videos were reviewed using a standardized protocol: time of injury/site of injury at the pitch/injury mechanism/injured body part/type of injury/severity of injury.

Main Outcome Measurements Incidence and severity of acute injuries, possible rule changes considered.

Results Overall number of injuries was 196 in 212 matches (0.92 injuries/match (confidence interval (CI)±0.06)). Number of injuries was 61 in women and 135 in men. This equalled 0.58 injuries/match (CI±0.07) in women and 1.27 injuries/match (CI±0,03) in men. Injuries per 1000 player match hours were 26.2 (CI±3.0) in women; 57.9 (CI±1.5) in men and overall 42.0 (CI±2.6). Most injuries happened within the third quarter and in the circle in both genders. Cause of injury was a hit by the ball or stick or collision with player. Injured body site was mostly head, face, trunk and leg in both genders. Four serious injuries were discovered.

Conclusions Video analysis enables accurate assessment of acute field hockey injuries. Video analysis provides detailed information on causes of injuries, which might lead to rule adaptations.