Injury Prevention in Youth Sports
Large numbers of youth (aged younger than 18) engage in organized sports worldwide, benefitting physically, psychologically, socially, and academically. However, sports participation is also associated with injury risk for participants. In general, the injury risks for youth participants are mild-moderate. At a population level, because of the large number of participants, the healthcare burden can be large. Thus, efforts to mitigate injury are important public health interventions. Further, injuries sustained during youth sports can result in adverse outcomes such as drop-out from participation or longer-term impacts such as osteoarthritis and pain.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in specific challenges for youth sport participation, causing complete stoppages to restructuring and re-scheduling. Both empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that as a broader return to sport has been possible, injury incidence rates have increased. As a result, it is crucial to have renewed focus on injury prevention programming targeted at health and safety of youth sport athletes.
The goal of this Article Collection is to solicit the contribution and submission of any articles and findings in injury prevention in youth sports. We encourage research that provides insights into the following areas of interest:
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Consideration of marginalized and underrepresented communities within local, national, and global contexts.
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Examinations of emerging sports, be they newly established in a particular geographic region or rising in popularity globally.
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A focus on implementation science and knowledge translation, and/or community-based participatory research.
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Multi-level examinations of the factors that influence the development of interventions, as well as their implementation and evaluation. This may include behavioral, interpersonal, organizational, cultural, and policy-driven elements.
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Consequences and solutions addressing challenges experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Guest advisors
Dr. Zachary Yukio Kerr(University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
Dr. Zachary Kerr is an Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise & Sport Science at UNC, & serves as Core Faculty with the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. His research & expertise focuses on the evaluation of injury prevention strategies related to concussion & heat stroke, particularly via injury surveillance and survey research. His collaborations with numerous injury prevention, athletic training, & sports medicine experts have resulted in the 230+ publications.
Dr. Lauren Fortington(Edith Cowan University)
Dr. Fortington is a Senior Research Fellow in injury epidemiology & injury prevention. Her research aims to support active populations to participate safely in sport, work & everyday activity. Her work spans different settings (sport, community, military), populations (youth, adult and older people) & health problems (musculoskeletal injury, concussion, falls, heat illness) with a common thread that a better understanding of health problems & their prevention will keep more people active.