High school sports bring many injuries to their knees
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High school is tough on the psyche -- and it’s not that great for the knees either. Knee injuries are the second-most frequently injured body part in high school sports and the leading source of high school-sports related surgeries, says a study from the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Using data from nine sports at 100 schools, researchers examined the incidence, risk and severity of knee injuries. Among the most common problems were incomplete and complete ligament tears, torn cartilage, fractures and muscle tears. The results are published in the June issue of the American Journal of Sports Medicine. (And, for the statistic-averse, here’s a special link.)
Some of the findings:
* Gender matters. Boys are more likely to suffer an injury to the knee, but girls are much more likely to suffer a ‘major’ injury to the knee and to have a season-ending injury. They’re twice as likely to need surgery (which is darned expensive), in fact. And contact? That’s more a factor in boys’ injuries than it is in girls. For girls, jumps and pivots are the real problem. (Think body structure.)
* So does the sport. For boys, football and wrestling were especially risky. For girls, soccer and basketball were the most likely to result in knee damage.
* Rule-breakers are evil. Perhaps not, but the researchers did point out the physical dangers of illegal play. Such rule-breaking is a factor in 5.7% of knee injuries, they said, but 20% of knee injuries caused by such play result in surgery. Tsk.
With these kinds of stats, it’s no wonder the hormonally challenged among us tend to be sullen when preparing for their school day. It’s dangerous out there.
(Oh, the most frequently injured body part? That would be the ankle. No one seems too worked up about that though...)
To help prepare high schoolers -- and give their knees a fighting chance -- check out this primer on knee injuries from the Nemours Foundation and this wealth of info from the Sports Injury Clinic.
-- Tami Dennis