Epidemiology of open fractures in sport: One centre’s 15-year retrospective study

Table 1 Total number of sport-related open fractures, divided by causative sport and the 5 most common fracture locations

Sport	Number	Percentage of the whole cohort (%)	Finger phalanx	Tibial diaphysis	Forearm	Ankle	Metacarpal
Soccer	19	22	3	9	1	1	0
Rugby	9	11	2	1	0	3	1
Cycling	8	9	3	1	2	0	0
Hockey	8	9	8	0	0	0	0
Horse riding	6	7	1	1	2	1	0
Skiing	6	7	3	1	2	0	0
Mountain bike	4	5	0	0	2	0	0
Quad bike	4	5	0	2	1	1	0
Basketball	3	4	2	0	1	0	0
Shinty	3	4	3	0	0	0	0
Sledging	3	4	0	2	0	1	0
Motorcross	2	2	0	0	0	0	2
Badminton	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Bowling	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Cricket	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Golf	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Snowboarding	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Squash	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Surfboard	1	1	1	0	0	0	0
Trampolining	1	1	0	0	1	0	0
White water rafting	1	1	0	1	0	0	0
Unknown	1	1	0	0	0	0	1
Totals	85	100	30	19	12	7	5

Table 2 The six most common causative sports and their anatomical distribution

Anatomical ocation	Soccer	Rugby	Cycling	Hockey	Horse riding	Skiing
Ankle	1	3	0	0	1	0
Clavicle	0	0	1	0	0	0
Distal radius	0	0	0	0	2	0
Distal humerus	1	0	0	0	0	0
Femur	0	0	1	0	0	0
Finger phalanx	3	2	3	8	1	3
Metacarpal	0	1	0	0	0	0
Patella	0	1	0	0	0	0
Distal tibia	1	1	0	0	0	0
Proximal ulna	0	0	2	0	0	1
Radius and ulna	1	0	0	0	0	1
Talus	0	0	0	0	1	0
Tibial diaphysis	9	1	1	0	1	1
Toe phalanx	3	0	0	0	0	0
Ulna	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	19	9	8	8	6	6

Table 3 Orthopaedic management of the open fractures

Fracture location	Wound management + splint/cast	Wound management + ORIF	Wound management + intra-medullary nail	Wound management + K-wire fixation	Wound management + external fixator	Wound management + tension band wire
Finger phalanx	20	3	-	6	1	-
Tibial diaphysis	-	2	17	-	-	-
Ankle	-	7	-	-	-	-
Metacarpal	-	2	-	3	-	-
Distal radius	-	2	-	-	2	-
Proximal ulna	-	1	-	-	-	3
Radius and ulna	-	3	-	-	-	-
Toe phalanx	1	-	-	2	-	-
Distal humerus	-	2	-	-	-	-
Distal tibia	-	1	-	-	1	-
Ulna diaphysis	-	1	-	-	-	-
Clavicle	1	-	-	-	-	-
Pelvis	-	1	-	-	-	-
Patella	-	1	-	-	-	-
Femur	-	-	1	-	-	-
Talus	-	-	-	-	1	-
Total	22	26	18	11	5	3

ORIF: Open reduction internal fixation; K-wire: Kirschner wire.

Table 4 Sport-related open fractures requiring plastic surgical intervention

Sport	Gustilo grade	Procedure	Injury
Soccer	2	SSG	Tibial diaphysis
Soccer	3a	Adipofascial flap	Tibial diaphysis
Soccer	3a	SSG	Tibial diaphysis
Soccer	3b	Fasciocutaneous flap	Distal tibia
Quad bike	3b	SSG	Ankle
Quad bike	2	Fasciocutaneous flap	Tibial diaphysis
Sledging	3b	SSG	Ankle

SSG: Split skin graft.