Results of the SMART High School Athlete Injury Data for 2013-2014

Purpose:  The purpose of this research is to report the 2013-2014 results of the University of South Florida (USF) Sports Medicine and Athletic Related Trauma (USF-SMART) Institute high school athletes’ sports injury data.  This year’s data were part of the national Reporting Information Online (RIO) sports surveillance system.

Methods:  Since 2007 the SMART program of the University of South Florida College has hired certified athletic trainers (ATCS) to collect data on high school athletes’ sports injuries in high schools in west-central Florida.  Data for this year were collected by ATCS from 13 large public and private high schools and SAS Version 9.2 was used for the data analysis.

Results:  The leading rate of injury per 1000 athlete-exposures for practices was for women soccer at 5.70, followed by football at 4.01, and women’s basketball at 3.78.  For competitions, the injury rate per 1000 athlete-exposures was greatest for football at 15.0, followed by men’s soccer at 8.33 and women’s soccer at 6.01.  Two-hundred-twenty-seven injuries were reported by the ATCs of which the majority of injuries were to males (72.9%) with injuries to the head/face, ankle, and knee.  The leading type of injury across sports was ligament sprain (27.8%), followed by concussion (21.6%), and contusions (10.6%).

Conclusions:  The results of this research confirm the important role of football and soccer as leading sports for injury among high school athletes largely producing sprains and concussions.  Interventions based on the data findings allow for targeted efforts to reduce sports injuries in these athletes.