These injuries are beyond the normal sprains and twists. There has been an increased rate of catastrophic injuries. Frederick O. Mueller of the department of exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina has done a long-term survey of catastrophic injuries in sports since 1982 (Chan). Mueller found that the most catastrophic injuries in high school sports were found in contact sports, such as football and lacrosse. The study Mueller has recorded shows that football is the most dangerous sport relating to catastrophic injuries. There have been over six hundred catastrophic injuries in football, 101 of these fatal, since he initiated the study. Concussions in-particular have made a dramatic jump in the sport of football. In fact, the last three years of football in high schools have had the highest totals for football related catastrophic brain injuries (“High”). Common injuries in high school sports depend on the sport itself. Football is not the only sport that has catastrophic injuries, but it gets the most attention because the injuries that occur in football are usually the most serious. This increased number of injuries among high school athletes leads people to question, is playing sports in high school really worth the …show more content…
Overuse Injuries include injuries were you actually “overuse” a specific muscle, ligament, tendon, bone, or growth plate. Overuse injuries, such as a growth plate injury specifically, can affect a players’ overall growth because the growth plate itself is the last bone to develop and the fracturing or breaking of it could cause a high school athlete to not fully develop, and even have deformities to their bones from the injury (“Types”). Overuse injuries are also becoming more common in high school sports, Dr. James Andrews, an orthopedic surgeon stated, “Surgeons are seeing four times as many overuse injuries in youth sports compared to five years ago.” Overuse injuries are becoming more common due to the participation of high school athletes playing all year sports. The playing of year round sports, single sport concentration, and intense training increase the risk for any type of injury substantially (“Overuse”). Year round competition, single sport concentration, and intense training increase the injury rate due to the body not getting enough rest and the bones and muscles begin to wear down which increases the risk for a fracture, strain, or even