Because they are fun and good for them, parents often forget how dangerous sports can be for their kids. The has estimated that each year about 2.7 million young athletes — from ages 5 to 24 — find themselves in emergency rooms because of sports-related injuries. The CDC also found that about three in four emergency department visits for sports injuries included an imaging service ordered or provided. And crucially, it’s still the case that more boys (40 percent) are involved in youth sports than girls (35 percent), though boys’ participation has dropped since 2019 while girls’ participation has grown, according to data from the .
Traumatic brain injuries or TBIs
A frequent diagnosis for young men is for traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), which are caused by blows or jolts to the head. TBIs can disrupt the normal function of the brain. While TBIs can range from mild to severe, all should be taken seriously. The majority of TBIs are concussions, which is when the brain moves inside the skull and can even bang against the skull bone. This cerebral trauma can cause confusion, blurred vision, and memory loss.
While team sports provide a wealth of emotional, social, and physical benefits for kids, it’s important to provide your young athlete with the proper protective gear, make sure he has knowledgable trainers and coaches, and teach him to follow game regulations in order to avoid brain trauma and other serious injuries. These five team sports are the most likely to cause injury in young men.
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Football
In 2022, about 725,000 children ages 6 to 12 played tackle football and another million played flag football; among teens ages 13 to 17, the numbers flip with about 1.3 million playing tackle football and about 550,000 playing flag football according to . Football has long been one of America’s most popular sports — and it’s the most dangerous. This collision sport has an (second highest is girls soccer at 2.65). High school football players are most at risk. Primarily because of their inexperience and smaller stature, high schoolers are twice as likely to be injured as college players.
Concussions are the worst of all high school football injuries. It鈥檚 worth noting that since 2019, participation in tackle football has decreased 13.2 percent for younger kids and 7.8 percent for teens, likely because of the dangers of concussions and TBIs. Physicians, football organizations, and indicate that coaches can help players by avoiding unnecessary helmet-to-helmet contact, wearing safety equipment that fits properly (including a snug-fitting helmet and neck collar), practicing , limiting contact during practice, following safety and game rules, and not playing after or 鈥渢hrough鈥� an injury. Read more about and .
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Basketball
Basketball is hugely popular, with nearly 4 million kids ages 6 to 12 playing in 2022 and another 3.4 million teens ages 13 to 17 regularly shooting hoops, according to . Is your son a budding Steph Curry? Then make sure he stretches before practicing those jump shots and layups because this sport can spur serious strains and sprains in the lower (and upper) extremities. In fact, one study showed that almost a quarter of all basketball-related injuries involve the ankle.
Basketball is one of the only sports in which male ball players are more likely to be hospitalized than their female counterparts. Of the nearly that require visits to the emergency room every year, 70 percent are sustained by adolescent boys. The most common injuries are ankle and knee sprains, finger sprains and fractures, and facial lacerations.
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Soccer
In 2022, about 2.2 million children ages 6 to 12 played soccer — and about 1.5 million teens ages 13 to 17, according to . Participation in school soccer among younger kids has increased 4.3 percent since 2019, and this intensely physical sport has become more popular with the establishment of professional soccer leagues and U.S. team successes on the world stage. But future Pel茅s and Beckhams would do well to proceed with some caution, with high school players sustaining some 400,000 injuries a year. are at high risk for ankle sprains as well as thigh and upper leg strains. Additionally, knee injuries — that can end a budding career — have accounted in some years for nearly a third of all soccer-related surgeries.
But the biggest risk in soccer is from headers. Approximately two out of three soccer injuries that came from boys heading the ball were classified as concussions. Want advice? Make sure the officials are doing their job. Soccer has the , especially to the neck and head.
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Baseball
America’s beloved national pastime has more contact injuries than one would expect. That may be part of the recent drops in still . In 2022, 3.2 million younger kids (ages 6 to 12) and 1.8 million teens (ages 13 to 17) played baseball, but those numbers are down 20 percent and 16 percent since 2019, respectively. The majority of players’ injuries are due to contact with a ball, bat, or another player. But increasingly, .聽Most are the result of poor training and technique, leading to young hurlers trying to throw harder or longer than is good for them.
Being hit in the head by a hardball can result in serious brain injuries, including concussions and, in extreme cases, coma and hemorrhaging in the brain. A found 242,731 baseball-and-softball related traumatic聽brain injuries or TBIs sustained between 1982 and 2015 — or about one in every 2,000 games played. A big reason: failing to wear protective headgear.
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Lacrosse
For a while, lacrosse was perhaps the nation’s fastest-growing high school sport. climbed 25 percent between 2009 and 2018, but between 2019 and 2022, teen participation in lacrosse . As the popularity grew, so did its injured lists. This collision sport is responsible for injuries in ankles, upper legs, and knees. An estimated one in every 10 injuries sustained during lacrosse games and practices is classified a concussion — the sport’s most common above-the-waist injury. Most worrisome, however, is the of in teenage male lacrosse players, in which a nonpenetrating blow to the chest from a shot causes ventricular fibrillation, which can result in death despite an otherwise healthy heart.
Preventing sports injuries
These five team sports are not the only ones that put players at risk for concussions, TBIs, and other serious sports injuries. Multiple other kids’ sports are also dangerous. , with sprains, strains, fractures, and abrasions. include wrist and lower arm fractures, ankle injuries, and concussions. found that 25 percent of players on a team suffered concussions in a single season.
To help protect your child from injury, follow the safety tips at . And always insist on聽proper protective gear, especially during practice. Some 62 percent of sports-related injuries occur during practice, yet only one out of three parents reports taking game-day safety precautions for practice.
