The American journal of sports medicine
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No studies to date have evaluated the injury patterns in professional arena football. The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of general injury patterns in the Arena Football League. ⋯ Game injury rates are higher than are practice injury rates. Athletes playing on both offense and defense did not have higher injury rates in games than did athletes playing either offense or defense. The sideline boards used in the Arena Football League did not appear to contribute dramatically to the injury rates. Despite the differences between arena and stadium football, Arena Football League injury patterns are similar to published collegiate football injury patterns.