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Catastrophic Injuries in Pole-Vaulters

Barry P. Boden, MD^*,, Paul Pasquina, MD, Jan Johnson, MS and Frederick O. Mueller, PhD^||

^* Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, The Orthopaedic Center, Rockville, Maryland
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia
National Pole Vault Safety Committee, Atascadero, California
^|| Department of Physical Education, Exercise and Sport Science, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Barry P. Boden, MD, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, The Orthopaedic Center, 9711 Medical Center Drive, #201, Rockville, MD 20850

Pole vaulting is a unique sport in that athletes often land from heights ranging from 10 to 20 feet. We retrospectively reviewed 32 catastrophic pole-vault injuries that were reported to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research between 1982 and 1998. The purpose of this study was to determine the mechanisms of injury so that preventive strategies can be implemented. Information was obtained by means of a telephone interview with someone familiar with the accident. All injuries occurred in male athletes at an average age of 17.5 years; 31 were catastrophic head injuries and 1 was a thoracic spine fracture that resulted in paraplegia. Three common mechanisms were identified: 17 (53%) athletes landed with their body on the landing pad and their head on the surrounding hard ground, 8 (25%) landed in the vault box after being stranded at the height of the jump, and 5 (16%) completely missed the landing pad. The mechanism of injury in the remaining two athletes was unknown. The accident resulted in death in 16 (50%) athletes and in permanent disability in 6 (19%). Increasing the minimum landing pad size and enforcing the rule requiring soft surfaces adjacent to the landing pads are the primary recommendations for preventing injuries. The authors discuss other rule and equipment changes that may help reduce the occurrence of future injuries.

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