Keeping lacrosse players from around world healthy while prepping for Olympics

Eugene Hong, M.D., a sports medicine specialist and physician leader from MUSC Health, didn’t have a lacrosse stick or a fan flag with him as he watched teams from Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas compete at the 2025 World Lacrosse Championship in South Korea. Instead, he brought medical gear to carry out his mission as the global organization’s chief medical officer. “The main part of my role is health, safety and wellness for all the event participants.”

Hong loved playing that role. “It was a lot of fun. It was a great experience. It’s good we can represent MUSC on the international stage,” he said, referring to the Medical University of South Carolina.

 

Lacrosse players, in a game known as “the fastest sport on two feet,” play hard – and sometimes pay the price. That’s what Hong is there for. At the recent World Lacrosse Championship, he and a Korean doctor partnered to prepare for catastrophic injuries, such as sudden cardiac arrest and major heat stroke illness, along with more routine ailments such as concussions.They had plenty to keep them busy.

“So we had a broken leg that needed surgery. And we had another serious shoulder injury that may require surgery back in the country. So there's typically broken bones and concussions. And a case of COVID, plus heat injuries.”

 

It’s all part of the package for World Lacrosse athletes, who come from more than 90 countries. Their organization hasearned recognition from the International Olympic Committee as the governing body for the sport. So in three years, when lacrosse rejoins the Olympics in Los Angeles after a 120-year break, Hong plans to be on hand to help at the massive event.

He knows changes in the game as it will be played at the Olympics may have an effect on players. “The Olympics will be six-on-six games. They’re faster-paced than regular lacrosse, and World Lacrosse Sixes is more Olympic-friendly.” 

He’ll be monitoring how, if at all, the faster pace and other changes drive injury levels. It’s the latest sign of Hong’s interest in applying scientific rigor to studying the effects of a sport he loves. 

 

“I’ve already started an injury epidemiology research study. So what we do at every World Lacrosse Championship event, there's one a year, is we collect injury data. So part of my other role at this year’s championship was riding herd over every team to report their injuries every day. And so we have a bunch of new information to put together in our research database.”

That new information will help the researchers understand not only the injury rates in World Lacrosse but also how they compare with other places where people play lacrosse, such as high school and college. 

And it may shed more light on a possible trend in World Lacrosse tournaments. “One of the things that we're starting to consider as a hypothesis is teams aren't coming into the event well-trained, and they get a lot of injuries in their first few days. That's one of the things we've started to message to teams. Look, we have some preliminary data that shows the majority of injuries are going to happen in the first three to four days of the tournament. Please come in as optimal shape as you can.”

Hong will be in optimal medical shape as he continues to help athletes from around the world. “One of the things that’s fun for me, being CMO for World Lacrosse, is giving back to a sport and community, nationally and internationally.”