More than one million high school athletes play football in the United States each year. The sport is characteristically exciting, fast-paced, and physically rough, ensuring that every player will regularly experience all manner of bumps and bruises during their season. Despite the many injuries, high school football is actually a very safe activity. Largely thanks to advances in equipment, as well as evolving rules and regulations that emphasize the safety of the players, high school football has almost completely eliminated the risk of fatal injuries.
The number of fatalities occurring among high school football players has remained extremely low since the mid-1960s, when there were 26 fatalities (out of over 1,000,000 players) during a single year. That number has fallen greatly ever since, with most years seeing just single digits.
The most common injuries for high school football players are ligament strains to the shoulder, knee, and ankle. The lower back is also susceptible. These are injuries which can be diagnosed and treated by an orthopedic physician. (Orthopedists can also prescribe specific exercise programs and refer athletes to sports medicine specialists.)
Life-threatening football injuries such as concussions and heatstroke or heat exhaustion sometimes pop up on the news, but they are much less common. Student athletes are far more likely to experience muscle, tendon, or ligament issues as described below.
The rapid starts, stops, and lateral turning motions (aka “cutting”) required in modern football put tremendous stress on a high school football player’s knees.
In addition, some orthopedic experts believe that the improved strength and speed of today’s players places more stress than ever on their knee joints, and compounds the risk of serious injuries.
Knee injuries may also occur from side impacts, overextension, and landings after high jumps.
The following knee structures are particularly susceptible to injuries on the football playing field:
Uneven surfaces and slippery footing are the main causes of foot and ankle injuries in high school football. Under the right conditions, both artificial turf and natural grass-and-dirt fields can be equally treacherous.
Wearing appropriate equipment can prevent injury. For example, shoes with short cleats on the soles are safer on fields with artificial surfaces, while those with longer cleats are used on wet, slippery fields for better footing.
Overtraining Syndrome is most often diagnosed as the cause of lower back pain. This high school football injury occurs when a player practices, or trains, beyond the ability of their body to readily recover.
Life-threatening high School football injuries, such as concussions and heat-related ailments, are also common but are readily handled through proper supervision and coaching.
Many excellent strategies to ameliorate the occurrence and severity of high school football injuries have evolved through the years.
Coaches have the responsibility to teach their high school football players correct mental techniques, not just to play cleanly and fairly, but also safely. Examples include:
Lastly, coaches are responsible for the careful observation of every individual high school football player, and noting all potential injury issues before they become more serious conditions.
Football helmets began as simple leather caps, but now have highly effective safety features integrated into their designs, such as ear holes, face guards, connected mouth guards, and tough, lightweight, high-tech padding.
Football shoulder pads have been standard equipment for decades and have enjoyed the same high-tech evolution as the helmet. A high school football player’s upper body has never been more protected.
Lower body pads are now available to cover a player from the waist to the knee.
Flak jackets are available to quarterbacks to protect their rib cages.
The field of sports medicine has advanced incredibly in recent years. Not only can most injuries be treated more quickly and effectively than ever before, but also the prevention of sports injuries has become a sophisticated field of study itself.
However, the very basics of strength, flexibility, and endurance training remain the same in the prevention of high school football injuries:
And of course, proper hydration is a fundamental requirement for every high school football practice, training, and playing session. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
For football players, sometimes seeing an orthopedist before you have an emergency can improve your chances of staying healthy and in the game.
Many orthopedists now offer seminars and clinics in injury prevention techniques for athletes, often specifically tailored to football. Oftentimes, these clinics are offered pre-season or at the start of a season, and include conditioning programs such as shoulder conditioning or knee conditioning.
If you are a player or a coach and you're concerned about the possibility of an injury to bone or tissue, the wisest course of action is to see an orthopedist as soon as possible. The risks of not treating an injury immediately can be serious.
At their worst, untreated concussions, fractures, and tissue damage can be dangerous. Even injuries that seem less serious on the surface can cause players a great deal of pain, inconvenience, time, and money as the problem compounds and leads to other health issues that may be more difficult (and time-consuming) to treat.
Any football player who has the symptoms of an injury should see a doctor immediately. A few weeks on the bench is far preferable to a season, or a career, cut short by a long-term injury.
To learn more about preventing and treating common football injuries, give Coastal Orthopedics located in Corpus Christi, TX a call. Telephone: 361.994.1166.
Article written by: Rob Williams, MD