Athletic injuries

[MHDNURSE]

I am curious, for those of you in middle or high schools, or with your own children in that age range, what are the most frequent sports injuries you are seeing and for which sports? Any specific sports you think have significantly higher injuries?

I am in a K-2 school, and have seen a couple of concussions from tackle football. My own kids have thankfully not gotten injured (yet)- 12 year old son does LAX, Basketball, and Baseball. 10 year old daughter does competitive cheer.

[OldDude]

I think it's Wrestling! Probably because so many kids do it here from pewee to HS. There's no protection really! I see more concussions and fractures in football, but seems like more sprains, dislocations, and tendon injuries in wrestling. And just more injuries in general.

We don't have wrestling either...

[OldDude]

As for gym classes, I hate dodgeball with a passion. It is full contact sport at the HS level at my school and played on pavement.

I can understand your point...wanna get your take on something. Do you ever see dodgeball injuries from kids who haven't been injured subsequent to being "tagged out?"

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I think it's Wrestling! Probably because so many kids do it here from pewee to HS. There's no protection really! I see more concussions and fractures in football, but seems like more sprains, dislocations, and tendon injuries in wrestling. And just more injuries in general.

Wrestlers also tend to continue to play after they get hurt. This can lead to aggravation of existing injury. Incidentally I've seen a higher rate of injury among volleyball players than most other sports. Usually it's "just" finger sprains and ankle sprains, but when nearly an entire team has their fingers buddy-taped... I've seen concussions, sprains, strains, and fractures in football, including C3-4 injury (twice). I've seen zygomatic arch injury from a baseball bat (amazingly enough, without orbital floor blowout). I've seen isolated ACL tears in Track and Field (and this rarely happens). I've seen untold numbers of abrasions in both baseball and softball.

Cheerleading? While that's usually considered a non-contact sport, some athletes do have significant collisions with the ground, often after being dropped or not landing where they were supposed to...

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

Also girls' soccer for some reason lately.

.

My son did a research paper, only sixth grade level, so not in depth, but females suffer concussions more than males. Wonder if there is more of a bias to keep males on the field or an anatomical reason.

[JenTheSchoolRN, BSN, RN]

I can understand your point...wanna get your take on something. Do you ever see dodgeball injuries from kids who haven't been injured subsequent to being "tagged out?"

Not usually. Though I did see a sprained ankle from a student who was tagged out - other student threw the ball so hard the student fell when hit and tripped over ankle. I wish I made that up, but gym teacher confirmed it.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

My son did a research paper, only sixth grade level, so not in depth, but females suffer concussions more than males. Wonder if there is more of a bias to keep males on the field or an anatomical reason.

In order to answer this question, you'd have to look at the mechanisms involved in concussion in a given sport and then look at what the men are doing vs. women with respect to the concussion mechanism. Remember that while MOI is a very poor predictor of actual injury, you cannot have injury in the absence of mechanism.

In the case of soccer, you'd have to look at concussion rates between male and female athletes from pre-pubescent through about age 18 to determine if there's more a bias to keep males on field vs females or if this is an anatomical reason. Given that boys do experience rapid increases in mass (skeletal and muscle) during and after puberty, I would expect to see a decrease in soccer concussion rates in the males if anatomy is purely a reason for a lower concussion rate among them vs the females. This is, of course, assuming they're playing by the same rules. Because pre-pubescent boys and girls are fairly close in terms of skeletal anatomy and muscle mass, they'd be your controls. This also assumes roughly equivalent skill level between males and females playing soccer at a given competitive level, and that's an additional control and variable to deal with.

[OldDude]

In order to answer this question, you'd have to look at the mechanisms involved in concussion in a given sport and then look at what the men are doing vs. women with respect to the concussion mechanism. Remember that while MOI is a very poor predictor of actual injury, you cannot have injury in the absence of mechanism.

In the case of soccer, you'd have to look at concussion rates between male and female athletes from pre-pubescent through about age 18 to determine if there's more a bias to keep males on field vs females or if this is an anatomical reason. Given that boys do experience rapid increases in mass (skeletal and muscle) during and after puberty, I would expect to see a decrease in soccer concussion rates in the males if anatomy is purely a reason for a lower concussion rate among them vs the females. This is, of course, assuming they're playing by the same rules. Because pre-pubescent boys and girls are fairly close in terms of skeletal anatomy and muscle mass, they'd be your controls. This also assumes roughly equivalent skill level between males and females playing soccer at a given competitive level, and that's an additional control and variable to deal with.

I'm wondering if it could be that...since women change their mind more often than men, that rapid neurotransmitter fluctuation predisposes them to concussion versus the little or no comparative neuro activity in men.

[LikeTheDeadSea, MSN, RN]

I was captain of my 4 person Reading Olympics team in High School. (...My graduating class at 800 kids, so BIG school, tiny RO team).

We had many paper cuts and quite a bit of eye strain from reading too much.

:)

[kidzcare]

My son did a research paper, only sixth grade level, so not in depth, but females suffer concussions more than males. Wonder if there is more of a bias to keep males on the field or an anatomical reason.

There's been quite a bit of research on this. Some factors I've seen mentioned are that females have less developed neck muscles, differences in neck sizes (larger girth means more stabilization), and women more likely to report symptoms (but not less likely to notice them).

[MrNurse(x2), ADN]

There's been quite a bit of research on this. Some factors I've seen mentioned are that females have less developed neck muscles, differences in neck sizes (larger girth means more stabilization), and women more likely to report symptoms (but not less likely to notice them).

Interesting. My pulmonologist says that women are more likely to have sleep studies done, but less likely to maintain CPap therapy if ordered. Kind of along the lines of men don't seek medical advice as quickly as women.

[GdBSN, RN]

I believe I saw something on the news recently, I think real news, that the area in the front of the skull on females is softer than it is on males, predisposing them to greater injury. The story went on to suggest that female soccer players should wear helmets.

[OldDude]

Kind of along the lines of men don't seek medical advice as quickly as women.

I think this supports my hypothesis...I think it does.