Catastrophic Sports Injury Report Released

Main Category: Sports Medicine / Fitness
Article Date: 26 Jun 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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The National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research based at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has released its 26th annual all sports report.

In addition to collecting data on catastrophic injuries in all high school and college sports, the report also contains cheerleading injury data. The latest figures are from the 2007-2008 academic year.

The report defines catastrophic injuries as any severe injury incurred during participation in a school or college sponsored sport, and includes three categories: fatal; non-fatal (resulting in permanent severe functional disability); and serious (no permanent functional disability but severe injury).

Sports injuries are also considered direct (resulting directly from participation in the skills of the sport) or indirect (caused by exertion while participating in a sport or a complication secondary to a non-fatal injury).

The report's conclusions for the 26-year period from the fall of 1982 through the spring of 2008 include:

-- There were 1,116 direct catastrophic injuries in high school (905) and college sports (211). High school sports were associated with 152 fatalities, 379 non-fatal and 374 serious injuries. College sports accounted for 22 fatalities, 63 non-fatal and 126 serious injuries.

-- Cheerleading accounted for 65.2 percent of high school and 70.5 percent of college catastrophic injuries among all female sports.

The report's author and center director, Frederick O. Mueller, Ph.D., professor of exercise and sports science in UNC's College of Arts and Sciences, noted that the number of cheerleading injuries fell slightly in 2007-08 year.

"Progress has been slow, but there has been an increased emphasis on cheerleading safety," Mueller said. "Continued data collection on all types of cheerleading injuries will hopefully show that these safety measures are working to reduce injuries."

Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill