Baseball Injury Prevention Through a Community Outreach Initiative.

Sports-related craniofacial injuries account for 10% to 42% of facial fractures in the US pediatric population, with the incidence of injury peaking at ages 6 to 7 and 12 to 14. The National Survey of Children's Health reported ~5.6 million children between the ages of 6 and 17 participated in baseball in 2021. National Electronic Injury Surveillance System reported 861,456 injuries resulting from baseball and 511,117 injuries resulting from softball in 2021, with ~500,000 of those injuries being to the face/head/neck. While participation in baseball and other youth sports has tremendous physical and mental health benefits, facial and other athletic injuries are concerning beyond the pain and disability caused by the incident itself. Severe injury can result in lost time from school as well as other social activities. Players and their families often experience financial strain as a result of physical trauma as well. The use of protective equipment has decreased the incidence of emergency department visits due to baseball-related trauma, especially mouthguards. However, adherence to using mouthguards is relatively low in baseball, with over 80% of players reporting not being told by a coach to wear mouthpieces. Youth from low-income areas often lack financial means to provide protective equipment and health insurance in the case of injury. The authors, along with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Miami Marlins RBI Program, created an outreach program by which over 400 mouthguards were given to players and caretakers at inner-city baseball and softball programs. Two community outreach events took place in South Florida. One event was held at a University of Miami Men's Baseball Game, and another was held on the opening day of the Miami Marlins RBI Program youth baseball league. In addition to handing out protective equipment and informational pamphlets, a question and answers session was held to discuss injury prevention. In conclusion, our community safety initiative created an interactive dialogue and message to hundreds of youth baseball players about the importance of protective gear to prevent injuries.

Baseball-Related Craniofacial Injury Among the Youth: A National Electronic Injury Surveillance System Database Study.

BACKGROUND: Baseball is 1 of the most played sports among adolescents in the United States. Yet, youth baseball players experience the greatest numberoforal and facial injuries, compared to other athletes involved in other sports. METHODS: The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System was analyzed for all hospital admissions for youth baseball athletes (5-19-year-old) experiencing a baseball-related craniofacial injury. These included concussions, head contusions, head lacerations, facial contusions, facial fractures, facial hematomas, face lacerations, eye contusions, mouth lacerations, dental injuries, and neck contusions. Descriptive statistics were performed, and injury incidence was described by sport, injury type, and age group. RESULTS: Nearly half of the injuries (45.0%) occurred among 10- to 14-year-old patients, followed by 5- to 9-year-olds and 15- to 19-year-olds. Of all age groups, the most common type of injury was facial contusions, compromising one fourth of the injuries. Other frequent injuries included facial lacerations (19.9%), facial fractures (19.7%), and concussions (13.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Overall, this analysis underscores the need for increased implementation of protective equipment, such as faceguards and safety balls. Although facial fractures are less common amongst the pediatric population, physicians and coaches need to be better educated about the most frequent injury patterns and management. Further prospective studies are warranted to better characterize these findings and to prevent injuries.

Play Ball: A 10-Year Comparative Analysis of Craniofacial Safety in Baseball and Softball.

INTRODUCTION: Within the United States, the number of players participating in baseball increased by nearly 21% to 15.9 million between 2014 and 2019. Additionally, batting helmets with face-masks are encouraged yet optional in youth baseball as well as college baseball and softball. in light of inconsistencies in safety equipment enforcement and usage, this study aims to perform a comparative analysis of the number and frequency of baseball and softball-related craniofacial injuries (CFis). METHODS: Data regarding baseball and softball-related injuries were gathered from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System database from 2011 to 2020. Craniofacial injuries were isolated and organized into 5-year age groups beginning with 5 to 9 years and ending with 25 to 29 years of age. Data was further stratified by location and type of injury. Injury types specifically reported in this study included concussion, contusion, fracture, and laceration. RESULTS: Distribution of injuries across age groups differed significantly between baseball and softball ( P < 0.001). When comparing the 10 to 14 year old group to the 15 to 19 year old group, we found that concussions and head contusions comprise a significantly greater proportion of all injuries in softball than in baseball. Conversely, facial fractures, facial lacerations, and mouth lacerations comprise a significantly greater proportion ofinjuries in baseball than in softball. CONCLUSION: Future prospective studies aiming to better characterize the within-game nature of these reported CFIs would certainly be beneficial in guiding the baseball and softball communities toward consideration of implementing maximally efficacious updates to current safety equipment standards.