Concussion Prevalence in Competitive Ultimate Frisbee Players

BACKGROUND: Ultimate Frisbee (ultimate) is a fast-growing, popular sport played nationally by over 4 million athletes. While several studies have examined injury rates in ultimate, no work has investigated the prevalence of concussions specifically or players’ knowledge and management of those injuries. PURPOSE: To estimate the lifetime prevalence of concussions in ultimate and to assess players’ knowledge of concussions as well as their concussion management behaviors. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. METHODS: From June to November 2015, we collected ultimate-related concussion data via an anonymous web-based survey, the Concussion in Ultimate Frisbee Survey, from a convenience sample of 787 male and female ultimate players across the United States. RESULTS: There were 553 male and 234 female respondents included in the analysis; 26.58% of men and 24.79% of women reported that they had sustained at least 1 concussion while playing ultimate, with 45.58% and 43.10% of those men and women, respectively, reporting multiple concussions. A total of 67.81% of men and 78.21% of women stated that they would remove themselves from play after sustaining a given concussion, although 45.99% of men and 37.62% of women indicated that they had returned to play in the same game or practice. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary data suggest that concussions do commonly occur in competitive ultimate and that better education and management of concussions in ultimate athletes are needed. This study is an important first step in deepening our understanding of these issues.