Over the next few months, high school football programs across the country will begin their 7’s and pre-season training programs as they prepare for the 2016-17 season.
Football is one of the most popular sports in U.S. high schools, and it is also the leading cause of high school sports injuries. While it’s up to the athlete to decide which sporting events they participate in, it’s important to keep things like the likelihood of injury in mind when preparing for any sport.
In 2005-06, a group of researchers at Columbus Children’s Hospital reported that high school football players had sustained over 500,000 injuries nationally that year. High school football players are at risk for injury up to 4 out of every 1,000 football exposures.
While college players are still twice as likely to sustain an injury in general, high school football players were more likely to sustain season-ending injuries, concussions, and fractures.
While any contact sport will always carry a high risk of injury, there’s plenty that can be done to help prevent these injuries.
One of the most common injury types identified by the group at Columbia were ligament sprains in the feet and legs. Targeted stretching of “problem” muscle groups (these can be different for everyone – just think, where are you always cramping or tightening up?) alongside whole-body flexibility work is still one of the most efficient and effective ways of preventing injury in athletes.
It’s also imperative that athletes have regular (at least annual) sports physicals to ensure there are no biomechanical issues, or injuries the athlete has been playing through. At True Sports Physical Therapy we offer some of the most extensive sports physicals in Baltimore. We’ll make sure your neuromuscular systems are fit and firing as well as look for and work to correct issues with movement patterns. Don’t leave your athletic career up to chance, get a sports physical from a licensed professional today.
.jpg)
.jpg)
