Sport Injuries in Soccer

While many parents feel as though their children are safer in sports other than football, soccer too has its share of risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention looked at high school sports injuries for 2005-06 and found football had the highest injury rate, 4.4 injuries per 1,000 athletes, with wrestling at 2.5 injuries per 1,000 followed by boys and girls soccer at about 2.4 injuries per 1,000.

Types

Oregon health researchers A.L. Adams and M.A. Schiff looked at data from the 2000 National Electronic Injury Surveillance System All Injury Program to estimate the prevalence of soccer injuries in children. Nearly 150,000 children sustained soccer-related injuries that landed them in emergency rooms in 2000, with injuries increasing by age. The most common injuries included strains and springs, 37 percent, fractures, 23 percent and contusions 21 percent. Wrist and finger injuries were common in children 5 to 9 years old, while ankle and knee injuries showed up more in 15- to 19-year-olds.

Time Frame

Christy L. Knox and colleagues at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Columbus Children’s Research Institute in Ohio also looked at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s injury surveillance statistics over a longer time frame, from 1990 to 2003. They found nearly 1.6 million emergency room visits related to soccer over that time, with nearly 60 percent of those injured boys, who were more likely to have face and head and neck injuries, as well as lacerations and punctures. Girls were more likely to experience ankle and knee injuries, as well as sprains and strains.

Prevention

U.S. Youth Soccer stresses the important of preventing soccer injuries. Leagues need to set up competition between athletes with equal ability and size and have referees enforce the rules of the game. Other factors include checking players for shinguards, ensuring upkeep of playing surfaces and checking that players wear proper shoes for the playing surface.

Treatment

If an injured player is unconscious and not breathing, begin CPR and call for medical assistance. If the player can talk, ask where the player is hurt. note the position of the injured part, look for swelling and compare with the opposite side. Inspire confidence and reassure the hurting athlete. U.S. Youth Soccer recommends immediately starting on the player on the RICE treatment: rest, ice applied to the injured area, compression applied with an elastic bandage and elevation to decrease fluid accumulation to the injured area.

Expert Insight

Chris Koutures, a pediatrician in Anaheim Hills, California, and Dr. Andrew Gregory of Vanderbilt University, members of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, concur with U.S. Youth Soccer on the importance of rules enforcement in preventing injury. They found in a 2010 report published in the journal Pediatrics that the risk of injury goes up based on dirty play. Around 12 percent of girls’ and boys’ injuries resulted from illegal actions. Koutures and Gregory note a consensus that limitation of violent contact can limit injuries, and that officials can control the physicality of the game, emphasize safe lay and reduce contact injuries.