Concussions in wheelchair basketball

Objective: To estimate the incidence rate of concussions in wheelchair basketball.

Design: Survey.

Setting: Wheelchair basketball tournaments during the 2009 to 2010 season.

Participants: Wheelchair basketball players (N=263) ranging in age from 18 to 60 years.

Intervention: Not applicable.

Main outcome measures: Participants completed a survey on their concussion history including how many concussions they have sustained, how many days they refrained from physical activity because of injury, to whom they reported their injury, and reasons for not reporting an injury if they did not. Participants also provided demographic information about their disability, age, sex, and length of wheelchair use and sports participation.

Results: Within the sample of 263 wheelchair basketball players, 6.1% reported experiencing a concussion in the current season. Of those experiencing concussions during the current season, 44% did not report their concussion. Of those not reporting the incident, 67% did not because they did not want to be removed from physical activity. Analysis by sex indicated that 5.82% of the male athletes sustained a concussion during the current season, and 14.36% had sustained an injury during their athletic career. Female athletes, however, sustained concussions at a higher rate, with 6.67% having concussions during the current season and 30.6% during their athletic careers. Women were also 2.5 times more likely to sustain a concussion than men. Athletes were most likely to report their concussion to their coach (60% of concussed athletes).

Conclusions: The current investigation was consistent with previous research in that women were more likely to sustain a concussion than men, and injury rates were similar to those in able-bodied basketball. Further work is needed in concussion assessment in persons with disability, as well as greater education concerning concussion in disability sports.