Early Sport Specialization Trends and Injuries in Former High School Athletes Specialized in Sports

Figures & data

Figure 1 Inclusion and categorization of participants.

Table 1 Characteristics of Participants

	Team Sports	Individual Sports	P value
Participants, N	700	637
Males, N (%)	393 (56.1)	270 (42.4)	< 0.001
Age, y	30.1±5.2	30.3±5.1	n.s.
Specialized athletes, N (%)	235 (33.6)	122 (19.2)	< 0.001
Nonspecialized athletes, N (%)	465 (66.4)	515 (80.8)

Table 2 Specialized Athletes by Sports, N (%)

Team Sports		Individual Sports
Volleyball	39/104 (37.5%)	Tennis	13/120 (10.8%)
Basketball	56/97 (57.7%)	Badminton	13/90 (14.4%)
Soccer	70/75 (93.3%)	Track and field	26/67 (38.8%)
Baseball	60/74 (81.1%)	Soft tennis	7/56 (12.5%)
Dance	3/38 (7.9%)	Table tennis	13/48 (27.1%)
Handball	2/33 (6.1%)	Swimming	26/40 (65.0%)
Softball	0/24 (0.0%)	Archery (Japanese archery)	0/34 (0.0%)
Cheer leading	1/8 (12.5%)	Kendo	16/28 (57.1%)
Rhythmic gymnastics	3/7 (42.9%)	Gymnastics	1/9 (11.1%)
Cheer dance	1/3 (33.3%)	Ballet	7/7 (100.0%)
Lacrosse	0/2 (0.0%)	Skiing	0/7 (0.0%)
		Karate	0/6 (0.0%)
		Naginata	0/2 (0.0%)
		Fencing	0/1 (0.0%)

Figure 2 Differences in acute or overuse injury prevalence in specialized/nonspecialized groups. (A) acute injury, (B) overuse injury. *p < 0.05.