William Atkins
Thursday, 03 September 2009 19:02
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
Boys’ wrestling was second highest at 0.52 per 1,000 exposures, followed by girls’ basketball (0.34) and girls’ soccer (0.33) .
Overall, boys’ sports had more severe injuries than girls’ sports, with a rating of 0.45 per 1,000 exposures for boys and 0.26 for girls.
However, when compared directly by sport (for instance, girls’ basketball versus boys’ basketball), girls had a higher severe injury rate (0.29) than boys (0.23). Specifically, girls’ basketball ranked at 0.34 versus boys’ basketball at 0.24.
The difference between severe injuries in soccer and baseball/softball was not statistically significant, according to the results of the study.
The study found that high school athletes had over 446,000 severe injuries from 2005 to 2007, with the most common injuries being to the knee (29.0%), ankle (12.3%), and shoulder (10.9%).
Dr. Christy Collins, one of the authors of the study, stated,
"Twenty-nine percent of severe injuries occurred to the knee, making it the most commonly injured body site. The ankle accounted for 12 percent followed by shoulder at 11 percent." [EurekAlert (September 2, 2009): “
High school football, wrestling athletes suffer highest rate of severe injuries”]
The most common diagnoses by the physician were fractures (36.0%), complete ligament sprains (15.3%), and incomplete ligament sprains (14.3%).
Page three concludes.
