The Orchard Sports Injury Classification System (OSICS) Version 10

Abstract

Injury classification systems are generally used in sports medicine (1) to accurately classify diagnoses for summary studies, permitting easy grouping into parent categories for tabulation and (2) to create a database from which cases can be extracted for research on specific injuries. Clarity is most important for the first purpose, whereas diagnostic detail is particularly important for the second. An ideal classification system is versatile and appropriate for all sports and all data collection scenarios. The Orchard Sports Injury Classification System (OSICS) was developed in 1992 primarily for the first purpose, a specific study examining the incidence of injury at the elite level of football in Australia. As usage of the OSICS expanded into different sports, limitations were noted and therefore many revisions have been made. A recent study found the OSICS-8, whilst superior to the International Classification of Diseases Australian Modification (ICD-10-AM) in both speed of use and 3-coder agreement, still achieved a lower level of agreement than expected. The study also revealed weaknesses in the OSICS-8 that needed to be addressed. A recent major revision resulted in the development of the new 4-character OSICS-10. This revision attempts to improve interuser agreement, partly by including more diagnoses encountered in a sports medicine setting. The OSICS-10 should provide far greater depth in classifications for the benefit of those looking to maintain diagnostic information. It is also structured to easily collapse down into parent classifications for those wanting to preserve basic information only. For those researchers wanting information collected under broader injury headings, particularly those not using fully computerized systems, the simplicity of the OSICS-8 system may still suffice.