INTRODUCTION
Facial trauma amongst athletes in major sports has been well-documented
in the United States. Participation in sports has been attributed to
3-29% of all facial trauma and between 10-42% of all facial fractures
each year.1 Among baseball, soccer, and hockey
players, facial injuries described as lacerations, contusions, and
fractures were the most common presentations.2-4Despite the well-documented incidence of sports-related facial trauma,
volleyball trauma has little comparable studies while an estimated 500
million people play volleyball globally.5
Volleyball is one of the most popular sports among adolescents and young
adults in the United States. In high school participants, volleyball is
the second most popular sport for women with 452,808
players.6 Volleyball also ranks as the fifth most
common sport among female athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA), with 17,780 players, behind outdoor and indoor
track, soccer, and softball (Student-athlete participation). Although
men’s volleyball has low participation relative to other NCAA sports,
the sport has doubled in active athletes since the 2000/2001
season.7 With the popularity of women’s volleyball and
the rapid growth of men’s volleyball, the prevalence of
volleyball-related injuries is likely to rise.
Despite volleyball rules that limit player contact, concussions are
still common.8,9 This is largely due to ball-contact
related injuries that account for approximately 10% of
volleyball-related injuries and 31% of ball-contact injuries were
located on the head or face.10 Head and facial traumas
make up a low proportion of overall volleyball-related
injuries.11,12
Several studies have investigated volleyball-associated injuries,
however, most studies are designed toward subpopulations such as
pediatric,13,14 NCAA athletes,8,15or professional athlete16 populations. Further, these
studies often focus on non-facial injuries, such as
upper17 and lower18 extremities or
back.19 There has not been a comprehensive study
analyzing volleyball-associated craniofacial traumatic injuries in the
general adult population. This study aims to describe
volleyball-associated craniofacial traumatic injuries presenting to
emergency departments (ED) in the United States by patient demographics,
type, anatomical location, and disposition.