Sports Injuries: An Overview

Sports and exercise are an important part of staying healthy. If you participate in sports, injuries could be a big concern for you. A sports injury can cause any athlete to have trouble playing their favorite game for years to come. Some of the worst sports injuries may even prevent the athlete from competing ever again.

In the 2021–2022 school year, over 4.3 million boys and 3.2 million girls participated in school sports, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Every year, many of these young athletes are injured while practicing or participating in sports. In 2019, the National Health Statistics Reports found that between 2010 and 2016, about 2.7 million emergency department visits for sports injuries each year were made by young people ages 5 to 24. The top five activities that caused these visits were football, basketball, cycling, soccer, ice skating, and roller skating/skateboarding. Many other teen athletes sustained injuries that do not require emergency care. In a survey conducted by Safe Kids Worldwide, 54 percent of student athletes in grades 7 through 10 say they have played injured. In another study of 800 high school athletes, 40 percent of athletes said their coach didn’t know they had a possible concussion. Teens face risks no matter their sport of choice. In a nationwide survey published by the University of Colorado-Denver in 2018, high school football took first place as the sport that ranks the most injuries per teen athlete. Head and face injuries were the most common injuries across all sports. The study looked at the number of teens playing each sport and the number of sporting events, and combined them into a result called the “athletic exposure.” For every 425,630 athletic exposures, teen football players received 1,516 injuries, or 3.56 injuries per 1,000 exposures. The second-place winner was boys soccer, with 1.47 injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures. Girls soccer, girls volleyball, and boys and girls basketball completed the list of the top five most dangerous games.

Another risky sport? Cheerleading. In 2017, the journal Sports Medicine reported that the annual injury rate for cheerleaders increased by 189 percent from 2001 to 2012. While cheerleading is ranked 18th out of 22 sports in terms of overall injury rate, the injuries tend to be more severe—even catastrophic and life threatening. It is responsible for 65 percent of direct catastrophic injuries to female high school athletes. During one week in September 2015, one teen was paralyzed from the waist down and another died after being injured in two separate high school football games, one in Texas and one in Louisiana.

A sports injury can be anything from a bruise or cut to a broken bone or head injury. Sports injuries can be caused by accidents while playing a game, by improper or inadequate stretching or warming up, by using incorrect equipment, or by not playing the game properly. It is important for athletes to admit when they are injured. When athletes deny that they are suffering, or when they convince themselves that they can “play through the pain,” injuries can become even worse.

There are ways to stay safe while playing sports, however. Following your coaches’ advice, wearing the proper equipment, respecting other players, and playing according to the rules of the game all help to prevent injury. With a little knowledge about how to stay safe, you can have a lifelong love for sports and fitness and stay healthy and active.