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By Alan Mozes
NEW YORK, Mar 13 (Reuters Health) - As more American kids take up playing soccer, the likelihood that they get injured as a result of playing the sport seems to be shrinking, the medical staff at the world's 4th largest international youth tournament, USA Cup Soccer (USACS), suggests.
A report in the latest issue of the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise shows that injury rates among almost 90,000 children who took part in the tournament decreased by half between 1988 and 1997.
"Basically, serious injuries in soccer are relatively rare but injuries obviously do occur, so when we really look at these downward trends one can speculate that it's basically due to improved conditioning and experience," said Dr. Steven R. Elias, medical director of USACS.
Elias looked at injury trends between 1988 and 1997. A total of 3,840 new on-field injuries were reported in that time. The USA Cup, which involves 800 teams from 23 countries, takes place once a year for 6 days in mid-July.
Elias found that the vast majority of injuries--over 65%--involved the lower extremities. Ankle sprains were the most prevalent injury of that type.
The lowest number of injuries occurred among girls in the oldest age group. The younger boys experienced the next fewest injuries. And while girls in the under 14 and under 16 groups experienced the highest injury rates overall, Elias noted that these most vulnerable groups also displayed the biggest drop in injury trends over the 10 years. He suggested that this fall-off might be the result of girls gaining experience over time.
Elias noted that a number of factors contribute to rates of soccer injuries, including field conditions, fitness and experience of players, rules and style of play, number of games played, as well as heat and humidity levels. And he concluded that in all these respects USA Cup Soccer is an increasingly safe environment for girls and boys of all ages--on par with large tournaments currently being mounted in Europe and elsewhere.
"Soccer really is a safe sport," Elias told Reuters Health. To make it even safer, he noted that USA Cup has focused particular attention on the issue of dehydration and heat sensitivity--making sure the players drink large amounts of water and are acclimated to the play environment.
"We really have seen an evolution as to sensitivity towards playing in these extremes, because if you look at an engine if it's not well lubricated, it's not going to function well." He suggested that further attention to this matter and improved conditioning could drive injury rates even lower in the future.
SOURCE: Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise 2001;33:359-367.
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