Sports Injuries Up for Youngest Athletes

How often are kids between the ages of 5 ands 18 treated in emergency rooms for sports-related injuries? A study conducted by Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis found that between 2001 and 2013, there were 485, 514 injuries reported by 100 emergency departments, which amounts to about 16, 000, 000 sports-related injuries among children showing up at emergency departments nationally, according to Kathryn Doyle, writing for Reuters Health.

The study found that the number of injuries in this age group increased yearly.

Three-quarters of those injuries were related to football, soccer, baseball or basketball. However, the proportion related to baseball and basketball dropped over the study period which was 2001 to 2013.

Senior author Teresa Maria Bell reported that the annual increase of injuries may be explained by the fact that more children were participating in sports each year of the study period. “We don’t know whether people are playing more sports or if people are becoming more competitive and injuring themselves more, ” Bell told Reuters Health.

The researchers used data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of 100 hospital emergency departments. The study reported on youth injured in 21 different sports, including football, basketball, soccer, baseball, softball and ice hockey.

Injuries from basketball, baseball and golf decreased during the study period and increased for football, soccer and cheerleading.

According to Doyle, one-third of the injuries were strains or sprains. Internal organ injury increased from 2.5% to almost 6.0% by 2013. Concussion diagnoses also increased from 2.0% to 4.6% of injuries.

Bell told Doyle that the study revealed that doctors were seeing more severe injuries in the youngest age group. “One thing that might explain that is sports becoming more competitive and less emphasis on injury prevention, ” she said.

Doyle quoted Andrew W. Gottschalk, M.D., a sports medicine expert at Ochsner Health System in Harahan, Louisiana, who also commented on the study. He said, “We know that more kids are vying for scholarships or starting younger. For the most part, increasing trends in sports injury correspond with increasing trends in American sports participation, and that is a very good thing. The best medicine is education, and for more athletes and parents to be aware of sports injuries—and appropriate treatment of those injuries.”