High School Sports Injuries
According to data from the National Foundation of High School Associations, approximately 8 million high school students — about 57% of all students attending high school — participated in at least one organized school sport in the United States during the 2018-2019 school year. Football, outdoor track and field, basketball, baseball, and soccer are the five most popular sports among boys; outdoor track and field, volleyball, basketball, soccer, and softball attract the most girls. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons characterizes the adolescent athlete as more vulnerable to sports injuries: Teenage athletes are injured at about the same rate as professional athletes, but injuries that affect high school athletes are often different from those that affect adult athletes. This is largely because high school athletes are often still growing. Growth is generally uneven: Bones grow first, which pulls at tight muscles and tendons. This uneven growth pattern makes you...