Youth Sports Injury Stats

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), participation in organized sports is on the rise. Nearly 30 million children and adolescents participate in youth sports in the United States. This increase in play has led to some other startling statistics about injuries among America's young athletes:

• High school athletes account for an estimated 2 million injuries and 500,000 doctor visits and 30,000 hospitalizations each year.¹
• More than 3.5 million kids under age 14 receive medical treatment for sports injuries each year.¹
• Children ages 5 to 14 account for nearly 40 percent of all sports-related injuries treated in hospitals. On average the rate and severity of injury increases with a child's age.⁴
• Overuse injuries are responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle and high school students²
• Although 62 percent of organized sports-related injuries occur during practice, one-third of parents do not have their children take the same safety precautions at practice that they would during a game.²
• Twenty percent of children ages 8 to 12 and 45 percent of those ages 13 to 14 will have arm pain during a single youth baseball season.³
• Injuries associated with participation in sports and recreational activities account for 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries among children in the United States.⁴
• According to the CDC, more than half of all sports injuries in children are preventable.
• By age 13, 70 percent of kids drop out of youth sports. The top three reasons: adults, coaches and parents.²
• Among athletes ages 5 to 14, 28 percent of percent of football players, 25 percent of baseball players, 22 percent of soccer players, 15 percent of basketball players, and 12 percent of softball players were injured while playing their respective sports⁴
• Since 2000 there has been a fivefold increase in the number of serious shoulder and elbow injuries among youth baseball and softball players.⁴

To learn how to prevent many of these injuries go to http://www.stopsportsinjuries.org/sports-injury-prevention.aspx

References:

1. JS Powell, KD Barber Foss, 1999. Injury patterns in selected high school sports: a review of the 1995-1997 seasons. J Athl Train. 34: 277-84.
2. Safe Kids USA Campaign Web site. 2009.
3. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 2009.
4. Preserving the Future of Sport: From Prevention to Treatment of Youth Overuse Sports Injuries. AOSSM 2009 Annual Meeting Pre-Conference Program. Keystone, Colorado.