The National Center for Sports Safety, or NCSS, reports that 62 percent of all organized sports-related injuries occur during practice rather than competition. Overuse injuries, incurred over time from repeated motion, make up almost half of all injuries occurring in middle school and high school students. The NCSS also notes the rates and severity of injuries rise with a child's age, a trend that puts teens at more risk for more traumatic injuries than younger children.
During Practice
Immature bones, poor conditioning, improper training and repetitive movements cause overuse injuries in young people. Parents and coaches sometimes do not employ the same safety precautions during practice as officials require at competitive events, like wearing complete sets of pads or helmets. Teenagers may be less consistent in performing healthy warmup exercises and stretches before practices, an omission that can lead to strained muscles. Not enough recuperation times after injury also increases the incidence of overuse injuries; teenagers are often eager to return to practice and play before the season ends.
Statistics
Sports or recreation-related injury accounted for more than 31 percents of all non-fatal, unintentional injury cases seen in emergency rooms in 2001, according to the Injury Prevention Treatment Center. Football and basketball sent the most boys aged 10 through 19 to the emergency room. Basketball and bicycle sports injured the most girls in this age bracket.
Basketball
The popularity of basketball may account for the high proportion of injuries, especially when coupled with the way players interact with each other on the court. A teenager may collide with another player while jumping and may fall improperly upon landing. Players tend to congregate under the net, coming into direct contact with one another while wearing no protective gear. Cut hands, sprained wrists and ankles, broken legs, forehead and eye cuts, and concussions are common injuries a teenager risks when playing basketball.
Assorted Sports Injuries
A teenager may suffer injuries while cycling by getting her feet caught in the spokes, colliding with a car or suffer a head wound by falling off the bike. Teen football players are at risk for fractured wrists, jammed fingers, chipped teeth, neck strains, concussions and head lacerations. Head injuries are common in baseball and softball, as are ankle injuries from sliding into home base. A teenager may also twist his ankle while playing soccer or rugby.
Head Injuries
Head injuries are one of the most serious a teenager can face. Head injuries can have long-term effects, especially concussions, which may result in brain damage, strokes, paralysis, headaches or reduced cognitive abilities. Some affects from sports injuries sustained by the teenager may not be apparent until many years later.
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