Epidemiological study of foot and ankle injuries in recreational sports

OBJECTIVE: This is a retrospective study showing the incidence, type and extent of injuries occurring in the foot and/or ankle as a result of recreational sports practice. METHODS: We treated 131 patients, of which 123 were male and 8 female, with a history of trauma and pain in the foot and/or ankle after the practicing recreational sports. The average age of the male patients was 24.53 years. The evaluation was done through a research protocol, which contained the variables age, sex, diagnosis, and type of recreational sport. RESULTS: The sports were classified according to the American Medical Association, which divides them into contact and non-contact sports. 82.4% of the sample practiced contact sports, while 17.6% practiced sports classified as non-contact. CONCLUSIONS: The sprained ankle was the most frequent type of injury, especially those of grade I and II. Soccer was the sport responsible for the highest incidence of injuries and among its various forms the indoor soccer presented the highest frequency of injuries (35%). In the non-contact sports, the highest incidence was found in running. Level of Evidence IV, Case Series.