Frequency of Stingers syndrome in different contact sports and its effect on return to play

Objective: To find the frequency of stingers syndrome in different contact sports and its effect on return to play. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Lahore from November 2019 to April 2020 on players of rugby, basketball, and hockey. It included 135 athletes between the ages of 18 and 40 years, of both genders with a minimum 1 year of sports experience. A Postseason questionnaire was used to obtain data. SPSS 25.0 was used for data analysis. Results: Highest frequency of stingers was seen in athletes of rugby (n = 32; 71.1%) followed by basketball (n = 29; 64.4%) and hockey (n = 27; 60%). We found that 44.3% of all players had a history of stinger and 42 (35.6%) of them returned to play on the same day with the majority of symptoms resolving in less than 24 hours. Association of frequency of stinger with return to play was statistically significant (p < 0.001). Conclusion: There is a high frequency of stingers in rugby, basketball, and hockey with greatest number of cases in rugby. Majority of the players return to play on the same day. A high association was seen between the occurrence of stingers and duration of return to play.