Medicine: Dunk Syndrome

• Share

A new woe for the tall

Both of the victims were exceptionally tall, one 208 cm (6 ft. 10 in.), the other only 2 in. shorter, and both had been playing in an invitational basketball tournament in Portsmouth, Va. One had a laceration nearly an inch long and half an inch deep on the side of his hand; it required sutures. The other had a severe scrape, also on the side of his hand, that resembled an area from which a skin graft had been removed. Both were suffering from dunk laceration syndrome.

This latest "discovery" in the growing field of sports medicine was made by Dr. Arthur Kirk, the tournament's attending physician, who treated the two athletes. Seeking the cause of the injuries, he examined one of the baskets and found the culprit: a sharp, rough edge on the flange that connected the rim to the backboard. There were also other potentially dangerous sharp edges and points on the rim. Kirk's conclusion, in a straight-faced report to the Journal of the American Medical Association: the lacerations had occurred when the players' hands hit the hoop while they were making slam dunk shots. Recommends Kirk: "In the interest of good sports medicine, all high school and college coaches, athletic directors and attending physicians should check these basketball goals to prevent further injuries to players."