Shoulder, upper arm and elbow injuries in high school men’s American football

ABSTRACT

In order to reduce shoulder, upper arm and elbow injury rates in American football, identifying injury risk factors and any underlying associations is needed. No prior study has done such characterization at the high school level. A descriptive epidemiology study was performed using data from the National Athletic Treatment, Injury, and Outcomes Network Surveillance Program (NATION-SP) from the years 2011/12 to 2013/14 on high school football athletes. Four hundred and sixty total injuries were found in the dataset. Acromioclavicular (AC) sprains had the highest incidence of all injuries (0.060 injuries per 1000 exposures). Fractures lead to the greatest time lost (42.24 days). Most injuries occurred in older athletes (juniors and seniors, 30% and 32%, respectively), were related to tackling (31%), and in running back and linebacker positions (15% each). Orthopaedic surgeons and other sports medicine specialists can use these findings to educate players, coaches and families about injury risks and for improving injury prevention guidelines.

KEYWORDS:

• Shoulder and elbow
• high school sports
• men’s football
• epidemiology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Geolocation information

The study originated in George Washington University Hospital, Washington DC. 900 23rd St NW, Washington, DC 20037.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.