Participation In High School Sports

Participation in high school sports helps promote a physically active lifestyle. High school sports participation has grown from an estimated 4 million participants during the 1971--72 school year to an estimated 7.2 million in 2005--06 (1). However, despite the documented health benefits of increased physical activity (e.g., weight management, improved self-esteem, and increased strength, endurance, and flexibility) (2,3), those who participate in athletics are at risk for sports-related injuries (4,5). High school athletes account for an estimated 2 million injuries, 500,000 doctor visits, and 30,000 hospitalizations annually (6). To date, the study of these injuries has been limited by inabilities to calculate injury rates, compare results

An estimated 1,442,533 injuries occurred among U.S. high school student athletes participating in practices or competitions for the nine sports studied. The overall (i.e., practice and competition) injury rate in all sports combined was 2.44 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures (Table). Football had the highest injury rate (4.36 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures) followed by wrestling (2.50), boys ' (2.43) and girls ' (2.36) soccer, and girls ' basketball (2.01). Boys ' basketball, volleyball, baseball, and softball each had injury rates of less than 2.0 injuries per 1,000 athlete exposures. In each sport, the injury rate was higher in competition than practice settings. Although boys ' soccer had slightly higher injury rates than girls ' soccer, and girls ' basketball had slightly higher injury rates than boys ' basketball, no statistically significant differences (p>0.05) by sex were observed for soccer

Although the health benefits of a physically active lifestyle, including sports participation, are well known, the risks for sports-related injury and effective prevention strategies are less well established. General recommendations for reducing the risk of injury among high school athletes (e.g., ensure adequate hydration and use of appropriate protective equipment in practices and competitions) and sport-specific recommendations (e.g., block and tackle with the head up to reduce the risk for neck injuries in football) are offered by NATA (9). Additionally, CDC addresses prevention and management of concussion in all sports with a free tool kit for coaches, Heads Up: Concussion in High School Sports (10). This pilot study demonstrates that participation and injury data can be collected to calculate exposure-based injury rates. Calculation of rates enables comparison of injuries among age groups, sports, and years. The results support the feasibility and value of targeting research and prevention strategies to those students most at risk for