There is little published information on injuries from playing dodgeball. This investigation described dodgeball-related injuries among children and adults managed at emergency departments (EDs).

Cases were dodgeball-related injuries reported to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) during 2001–2018. Cases were divided into patients age 0–19 years (children) and patients age 20 years or greater (adults).

A total of 5533 dodgeball-related injuries were identified, resulting in a national estimate of 185,382 injuries. Children accounted for 167,766 (90.5%) and adults for 17,617 (9.5%) of the injuries. For both age groups, the number of injuries increased during 2001–2006 then fluctuated but did not demonstrate any clear trend during 2007–2018. The highest proportion of children were treated on Friday (21.8%) while the highest proportion of adults were treated on Saturday (20.2%). While 57.8% of child injuries occurred at school, 46.7% of adult injuries occurred at a sports or recreational facility. The more common reported types of injuries among children and adults, respectively, were sprain or strain (30.7% vs 38.5%), fracture (24.7% vs 23.9%), contusion or abrasion (16.3% vs 7.5%), and dislocation (3.0% vs 11.7%). The most frequently affected body parts among children and adults, respectively, were the upper extremity (50.4% vs 46.3%), head and neck (22.8% vs 15.4%), and lower extremity (21.4% vs 31.5%).

The majority of dodgeball-related injuries occurred among children. Children and adults tended to differ with respect to when and where the injuries occurred as well as the type of injury.