Facial injuries in the National Basketball Association: 2013-14 through 2017-18

ABSTRACT

Objective

To describe the epidemiology, mechanisms, treatment, and disability for facial injuries in National Basketball Association (NBA) athletes.

Methods

This was a retrospective descriptive epidemiological chart review using NBA Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system. Responses to injuries reported in games, practices, and other activities were used for all data analysis, except for game incidence rates. Incidence rates were calculated by the game-related facial injury incidence per total athlete exposure (player-games).

Results

There were 440 facial injuries among 263 athletes during the 5 NBA seasons with an overall single-season risk of 12.6% and a game incidence of 2.4 per 1000 athlete-exposures (95% CI: 2.18–2.68). The majority of injuries were lacerations (n = 159, 36.1%), contusions (n = 99, 22.5%), or fractures (n = 67, 15.2%), with ocular (n = 163, 37.0%) being the most commonly injured location. Sixty (13.6%) injuries resulted in at least one NBA game missed (224 cumulative player-games) with ocular injuries resulting in the most cumulative games missed (n = 167, 74.6%). Nasal fractures (n = 39, 58.2%) were the most common fracture location followed by ocular fractures (n = 12, 17.9%) but were less likely to lead to games missed (median = 1, IRQ: 1–3) than ocular (median = 7, IQR: 2–10) fractures.

Conclusions

An average of one in eight NBA players sustained a facial injury each season with ocular injuries being the most common location. While most facial injuries are minor, serious injuries, especially ocular fractures, can result in games missed.

KEYWORDS:

• Facial injury
• ocular injury
• fracture
• NBA
• National basketball association

Acknowledgements

We thank the National Basketball Association for allowing us access to their EMR system, providing data for this study, and reviewing this manuscript prior to publication. We also thank Dr. Ben Jacobs, whose work gaining access to this data was integral to the project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).