The Epidemiology of Injuries in Middle School Football, 2015-2017: The Advancing Healthcare Initiatives for Underserved Students Project

Abstract

Background: Although data exist on injuries in youth football leagues, there are limited recent data on injury incidence in middle school football. Updated injury incidence estimates can help drive the development of injury prevention strategies. Purpose: Describe the epidemiology of injuries in middle school football during school years 2015-2016 to 2017-2018. Study Design: Descriptive epidemiology study. Methods: Data originated from 9 public middle schools in Virginia during school years 2015-2016 to 2017-2018. Certified athletic trainers collected injury and athlete-exposure (AE) data from school-sanctioned games and practices in boys’, football. Injury counts and rates per 1000 AEs were calculated. Injury rate ratios with 95% CIs compared rates between games and practices. Results: Overall, 664 middle school boys’, football injuries were reported, leading to an overall injury rate of 20.54 per 1000 AEs (95% CI, 18.98-22.11). The time loss injury rate (inclusive of injuries with participation restriction time ≥24 hours) was 9.28 per 1000 AEs (95% CI, 8.23-10.33). The injury rate was higher in competition than practice (36.19 vs 17.97 per 1000 AEs; injury rate ratio, 2.01; 95% CI, 1.69-2.40). Most injuries were to the head/face (competition, 20.6%; practice, 15.8%) and hand/wrist (competition, 18.8%; practice, 16.4%) and were diagnosed as contusions (competition, 30.9%; practice, 25.9%) and sprains (competition, 19.4%; practice, 12.6%). Competitions also had a large proportion of concussions (10.3%). Overall, 80.0% and 66.9% of injuries were due to contact in competition and practice, respectively; of these contact-related injuries, 62.1% and 41.6% were specifically player contact. Conclusion: Injury distributions parallel those found in previous research from middle school and other sport settings. Injury rates in middle school football were higher than those reported in previous findings in high school and college. However, caution must be taken when interpreting findings in relation to other surveillance systems with varying methodologies. Still, the findings highlight the need for injury prevention strategies within middle school football, particularly as related to contact-related mechanisms.

Sport culture and communication among middle school athletes, parents, and staff: A qualitative study

“…Finally, as this study is part of a larger project focused primarily on concussion education and prevention [16], the categories discussed should be considered in a similar context. Further, despite the comparability in concussion incidence between MS settings [8,9] and other sport settings (such as HS, youth, etc.) [46,47], research indicates significant concussionrelated knowledge gaps among individuals within MS sports [48,49], which may be perpetuated by a lack of prioritization as indicated within the findings presented herein.…”

“…Previous injury incidence estimates, particularly for concussion, in MS sports are comparable to those of high school and youth league settings [8,9], but have been limited in sample size, focused on specific schools or school districts. Nonetheless, the findings have substantiated hypotheses related to the role of unique structures and factors that may be associated with injury risk and management, including smaller team sizes, athletes being multi-sport athletes, and limited access to medical care [8,9]. There is limited research within the MS sport setting, particularly related to sport-related injury prevention and management.…”

Musculoskeletal pains among amateur and professional athletes of five disciplines in Senegal: a preliminary study

“…2 Physical Activities and Sport Physiology and Medicine Unit, Faculty of Science, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon. 3 National Institute for Youth and Sports Yaounde, University of Yaounde I, Yaounde, Cameroon. 4 Mines Saint-Etienne, INSERM, U1059 Sainbiose, University Jean Monnet, Saint-Etienne 42023, France.…”

“…MSP is frequently observed in athletes and is often cause of poor biomechanical performances and even loss of competition. It can also lead to significant recovery periods requiring physiotherapy or surgery [ 3 , 4 ]. MSPs are a common problem and important warning signals of overuse injury in athletes [ 5 , 6 ].…”

Poor quality of sleep and musculoskeletal pains among highly trained and elite athletes in Senegal

“…MSP are a common problem and important warning signals of overuse injury in athletes [ 14 , 15 ]. Injuries in athletes most of the time require significant recovery periods with physiotherapy or surgery intervention [ 16 , 17 ]. Prevention of MSPs and injuries in sports medicine constitute one of the most worrying health problems because resulting in high economic costs, withdrawal of athletes from training and competition, and impairment of their performance [ 18 , 19 ].…”