A prospective study of sport injuries in youth females

Objectives: To examine sports and physical education (PE) injury rates in youth females during a school year and to investigate if an association exists between injury and phase of the menstrual cycle.

Design: Prospective cohort.

Setting: An online questionnaire was used to record training and competition exposure and self-reported injuries for 30-weeks.

Participants: 103 PE students (12-15 years) from a girls' secondary school.

Main outcome measures: Injury rates and prevalence of acute, gradual onset/overuse and substantial injuries.

Results: On average, girls trained 3.4 h/week and competed 1 h/week. During the study, 74 participants reported 595 injuries. The average weekly prevalence of all injuries was 20.7% (95% CI: 20.0-21.3), of which 8.6% (95% CI: 8.3-9.0) were acute injuries and 12.0% (95% CI: 11.4-12.6) were gradual onset/overuse injuries. The overall rate of sport and PE injuries was 10.4 injuries/1000 h of exposure. The most common acute injury involved the ankle (35%) while the most common gradual onset/overuse injury involved the knee (51%). There was no significant association between the stage of the menstrual cycle and the likelihood of injury (P = 0.18).

Conclusion: The high number of injuries in this population of girls suggests preventative measures, particularly targeting the lower extremity, are needed.