A DESCRIPTIVE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF SPORT AND RECREATION INJURIES IN A POPULATION-BASED SAMPLE - RESULTS FROM THE ALBERTA SPORT AND RECREATION INJURY SURVEY (ASRIS)

The 1996 Alberta Spore and Recreation jury Survey is a retrospective s tudy describing the annual incidence of injuries in the province of Al berta resulting from sport and recreational involvement. Data was coll ected by means of a telephone survey using random digit dialling techn iques to obtain a representative sample of Albertans in the winter of 1995-96. The sample produced a total of 3,790 respondents from 1,478 h ouseholds evenly split between genders, with an age range of 6 to 93 y ears. The survey asked information regarding medically attended, non-f atal injuries resulting from sport and recreational activities. Findin gs reveal an annual incidence of sport or recreational injuries of 11% . Among chose reporting a sport or recreational injury, the most commo n types of injuries were a sprained/torn ligament (31%), strained/pull ed muscle (19%), and fracture (13%). The most common bodily locations of injuries were the knees (21%) and the ankle (14%).