Lacrosse — or “lax” — is a fast-paced sport that requires quick starts and stops, cutting, pivoting, stick handling, and contact or incidental contact. Although these moves can place stress on your body, the sport also offers many benefits.

“Lacrosse is a great sport for building speed, strength, coordination, and confidence,” says S. Joshua Szabo, MD, orthopaedic sports medicine and shoulder surgeon, Tri Rivers Musculoskeletal Centers.

“But athletes should not ignore pain, swelling, or instability," he says. "Early evaluation and the right treatment plan can help players avoid more serious injury, recover safely, return expediently, and get back to the activities they enjoy.”

Parents, coaches, and athletes can all play a role in safe lacrosse play by:

  • Building strength and conditioning.

  • Knowing when a health care provider should check symptoms.

  • Understanding common lacrosse injuries.

  • Using proper equipment.

Learn more about lacrosse, its benefits, common injuries, and ways to prevent or treat injury.

What Are the Benefits of Playing Lacrosse?

Lacrosse can be a great sport for overall athletic development. Throughout the game, you use your entire body — legs, core, shoulders, arms, wrists, and hands.

The sport combines sprinting, cutting, throwing, catching, and quick decision-making. These movements can help improve cardiovascular fitness, lower-body strength, upper-body coordination, balance, agility, and reaction time.

Lacrosse also offers social and mental benefits. You learn to communicate, work as a team, stay disciplined, and build confidence through practice and competition.

Like any sport, lacrosse carries some injury risk. The key is to train well, move safely, wear the right protective equipment, and speak up when pain or symptoms occur.

How Lacrosse Players Can Lower Their Injury Risk

A strong training program should prepare you for the movements you use in lacrosse, including:

  • Fatigue late in a game.

  • Quick direction changes

  • Repeated sprinting.

  • Stick skills.

“Helpful injury prevention strategies include dynamic warmups, hip and glute strengthening, hamstring and quadriceps strengthening, ankle mobility, balance work, core stability, and controlled landing and cutting drills,” Dr. Szabo says.

Knee injury prevention is especially important. ACL and meniscus injuries can happen when you plant, pivot, slow down, or land with poor control. Through training, you can learn to keep your knee aligned over the foot, absorb force through the hips and knees, and maintain good core control.

Ankle and balance work can also help improve control during quick changes in direction. Try single-leg balance drills, calf strengthening, ankle mobility, and other balance exercises.

Strength training should be age-appropriate and focused on good technique. Squats, lunges, step-ups, hip bridges, planks, rows, and other supervised exercises can help build strength safely. 

Don't overlook your shoulders and arms. Repetitive passing and shooting can place stress on the shoulder, elbow, wrist, and hand. Rotator cuff strengthening, shoulder blade control, grip strength, and trunk rotation exercises can help protect the upper body.  Train the entire kinetic chain of movement.

Also allow recovery with built-in days, hydration, sleep, and gradual increases in training volume. Doing too much too soon can raise your risk of overuse injuries.

What Are the Most Common Lacrosse Injuries?

Many lacrosse injuries are mild sprains, bumps, or bruises. But more serious injuries can affect your joint stability, growth plates, long-term function, or ability to return safely to play.

Common lacrosse injuries include:

  • Ankle sprains.

  • Concussions.

  • Hamstring strains.

  • Hand and wrist injuries.

  • Head or face injuries.

  • Hip flexor strains.

  • Knee sprains or tears.

  • Lower back pain.

  • Shoulder injuries.

Some injuries need timely evaluation, such as:

  • ACL or meniscus tears.

  • Any symptoms after a head impact.

  • Clavicle fractures.

  • Hand and wrist fractures.

  • Recurrent ankle sprains.

  • Shoulder dislocations.

The differences between boys’ and girls’ lacrosse can cause certain injuries to happen more often in one group than the other.

Common boys’ lacrosse injuries

Common injuries in boys’ lacrosse include shoulder dislocations, clavicle fractures, concussions, hand and wrist injuries, ankle sprains, and contact-related knee injuries.

Boys’ and men’s lacrosse allow for increased contact in the sport, so there’s more equipment. On-field players wear protective equipment, including:

  • Arm pads.

  • Chest and throat protectors (goalies).

  • Gloves.

  • Helmets.

  • Mouth guards.

  • Protective cups.

  • Shoulder pads.

Despite this equipment, injuries can still occur during contact, falls, stick checks, and quick changes in direction.

Boys’ lacrosse sticks have a deeper net, which allows players to cradle it further away from their bodies. Defenders trying to dislodge the ball may try to hit the stick, which can lead to hand or wrist injuries.

Common girls’ lacrosse injuries

Girls’ and women’s lacrosse have less permitted body contact. Field players typically wear protective eyewear and a mouth guard, while goalies wear additional protective equipment.

Girls’ lacrosse sticks have a shallower net, so players hold their sticks closer to their bodies — often up by their heads. This can lead to more frequent head and face contusions in girls’ lacrosse, along with concussions. Facial and mouth fractures are rare but still possible

Hand and wrist fractures are also common because female players don’t have to wear gloves.

Knee injuries are also common in girls’ lacrosse. They often happen during noncontact movements, such as pivoting, landing, and changing direction. This is one reason ACL prevention training is especially important for female athletes.

Lacrosse Injury Treatment

Treatment for lacrosse injuries depends on the type and severity of the injury. Providers also consider the athlete’s age, their position, the timing of the season, and their goals for returning to play.

Minor sprains, strains, and bruises may improve with rest from play, ice, compression, elevation, and activity changes. A gradual return is possible as pain and swelling improve.

“More serious injuries, such as displaced fractures, recurrent shoulder instability, meniscus tears, or complete ligament tears like ACL injuries, may require imaging, bracing, surgery, and a structured rehabilitation plan,” Dr. Szabo says.

Before returning to lacrosse, you should have:

  • Confidence with cutting, landing, and sport-specific drills.

  • Full or near-full range of motion.

  • Good balance.

  • Minimal swelling.

  • Restored strength.

You should be able to complete lacrosse-specific activities without pain, limping, or compensation before returning fully to practices or games.

Always seek medical evaluation if any of the following is present:

  • Inability to bear weight.

  • Numbness or tingling.

  • Pain that doesn't improve after a short period of rest.

  • Rapid swelling.

  • Repeated instability.

  • Severe pain.

  • Symptoms after a head impact,

  • Visible deformity.

Why Should People Play Lacrosse?

Lacrosse offers great physical exercise, along with social and mental benefits. Athletes develop communication and teamwork skills, while boosting confidence through practice and competition.

But lacrosse is a demanding sport. Enjoying the sport safely requires proper conditioning, good technique, protective equipment, adequate rest, and early attention to pain or injury.

“The most important message for players and families is simple," Dr. Szabo says, "train well, rest and recover, do not ignore symptoms, and return to play only when the body is ready.”

Stop play if an injury causes swelling, instability, loss of motion, weakness, numbness, or pain that limits sports or daily activity. An orthopaedic sports medicine evaluation can help identify the problem and guide the safest path back to activity.