Injury Prevention in Youth Sport

Abstract

Youth have very high participation and injury rates in sport; in fact sport is the leading cause of injury in adolescents. Sport injury reduces future participation in physical activity which adversely affects future health. In addition, sport injury may lead to overweight/obesity, post-traumatic osteoarthritis, or post-concussion syndrome. It is impossible to eliminate all injury in youth sport; however, injury prevention strategies can reduce the number and seriousness of injuries in many sports. The chapter provides an evidence-based review on what is known about intrinsic and extrinsic injury prevention strategies which have been evaluated in child and adolescent sport. Adolescence (ages 12–19) was the age of focus for the vast majority of research papers evaluating injury prevention strategies. Injury prevention strategies are highlighted and gaps in the literature in injury prevention in child and adolescent sport are summarized. There is an increasing body of rigorous scientific evidence to inform best practice and policy in injury prevention in youth sport. While there is evidence for the effectiveness of neuromuscular training strategies in the reduction of injury in numerous team sports, there is also evidence to support the lack of program uptake and ongoing maintenance of such programs. There is evidence to support the use of protective equipment (e.g., helmets, wrist guards) in youth sport, yet despite this there is also evidence to support less than optimal uptake of equipment strategies. A focus on implementation is critical if there is going to be a shift in knowledge, behavior change, and sustainability of evidence-informed injury prevention practice and policy. Recommendations to contribute to effective and sustainable injury prevention in youth sport have been summarized.