Lacrosse

Is lacrosse safe?

Mostly, yes, and it has become much safer. US lacrosse recorded 25 deaths across youth, high-school and college play from 1982 to 2020, 24 of them male. Most were cardiac: hidden heart disease, or a ball to the chest that stopped a healthy heart. Since 2007, the death rate from those causes has fallen by about 95%, as defibrillators became standard at games and chest protection improved. On our estimate a high-school boy faces about 0.08 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per practice or game on 1982–2025 data, less on recent years.

The common risk is injury, especially concussion. Boys' lacrosse is a collision sport with body checks and hard sticks; girls' lacrosse bans most contact but still has sticks and a hard ball flying at head height.

Why lacrosse deaths have fallen

The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (NCCSIR) and colleagues reviewed every catastrophic lacrosse event they could find from 1982 to 2020: 69 in total, 25 of them fatal. Cardiac events were the most common. There were 15 sudden cardiac arrests from an underlying heart problem, 12 of them fatal, and 15 cases of commotio cordis, of which 7 were fatal.

After several high-profile deaths in the mid-2000s, lacrosse bodies pushed for defibrillators and emergency plans at games. Comparing 1982–2007 with 2007–2020, fatality rates from cardiac arrest and commotio cordis fell by 95%, and the share of cardiac arrest victims who survived rose about fourfold.

Equipment followed. NOCSAE, the US equipment standards body, changed the specification of the lacrosse ball and finalised a chest protector standard in 2021 that tests whether a protector cuts the force of a ball below the level that triggers cardiac arrest. Goalkeepers have had to wear certified protectors since 2021 and all field players since 2022. Two commotio cordis cases have been reported since the ball change, and both players survived.

The other catastrophic injuries were 14 spinal cord injuries, 9 severe head injuries and 5 cases of severe muscle breakdown (rhabdomyolysis) in one college women's team after a single supervised weight-lifting session. Contact with a stick or ball caused 41% of all catastrophic events and contact with another player 20%.

How we worked out the micromorts

For US high-school boys, the NCCSIR's latest report gives 0.11 traumatic and 0.37 medical deaths per 100,000 players a season over 1982 to 2025. That is about 5 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary a season, or 0.08 per session over about 60 practices and games. College men show higher rates on small numbers, 1.08 traumatic and 0.54 medical deaths per 100,000 a season, about 16 micromorts a season or 0.1 a session over 150 sessions. A separate study of all US college athlete deaths found 1 sudden cardiac death per 45,850 athlete-years in men's lacrosse. Girls' and women's rates are far lower. Because most of the deaths happened before 2007, the risk today is likely lower than these averages.

How often lacrosse players get injured

Games were about 3.5 times riskier than practice for boys and men. Lower-limb strains and ligament sprains were common at every level, but concussion was the most frequent game diagnosis for every high-school boys' position, and the most common diagnosis overall for high-school girls, usually from contact with a stick or ball.

For girls, the headgear question is live. Florida requires high-school girls to wear headgear certified to ASTM F3137. In 2019 to 2021 its concussion rate was 0.27 per 1,000 exposures, against 0.44 in 31 states without a mandate.

How to play more safely

1. Wear a NOCSAE-certified chest protector, whatever your position, and make sure it covers the heart when your arms are raised to block or shoot.
2. Insist on a defibrillator at every game and practice, within a short walk of the field, and someone trained to use it.
3. Wear a properly fitted helmet in boys' lacrosse and consider ASTM F3137 headgear in girls' lacrosse.
4. Teach legal checking. Contact with another player caused a fifth of catastrophic events; checks to the head and neck are illegal for good reason.
5. Wear a mouthguard and eye protection as required by the rules for your level.
6. Report concussion symptoms and do not return the same day.

How we scored it

Fatality risk (95) rests on about 0.08 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per high-school session on long-run data, and probably less today. Serious injury risk (55) is the weakest factor because concussion is common. Controllability (70) reflects a sport that has cut its deaths with defibrillators and better equipment. Rescue (88) is close on most fields. Lacrosse sits above ice hockey and American football, and below baseball.