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Youth Injuries and Football

A question from Dave Conarroe, Aspen Youth Sports Associates, retired coach and athletic director.

I am the founder of the youth football program in Aspen. A parent recently approached me and told me that his boy won't play, even though he wants to, because football creates injuries to the growth plates of every boy/girl who plays. He says he has seen or heard medical information about this, but I have not been able to find any studies to support his position. What can you add to this?

Answer: The comment made by the parent who said that youth football creates injuries to the growth plate of every boy/girl who plays is totally false and without foundation. While there are risks for injury in youth football, as there are in most youth sports, the incidence rate of growth plate injuries certainly is not 100 percent as the parent has stated. As a specific case in point, I am not aware of a single growth plate injury to one of my football players in more than 35 years of coaching. That does not mean that isolated cases of such an injury haven't happened, but it does suggest that the incidence rate for such an injury is not high. On the contrary, my experience is that injuries, in general, to youth football players between the ages of 7 and 14 are very rare.

As I am sure you know, this can be traced to a number of factors. Youth football players are grouped according to age and weight to avoid physical mismatches. There are special playing rules designed to avoid high risk situations. Significant improvements in equipment, equipment certification and coaching techniques, as well as an emphasis on proper conditioning and an increase in injury avoidance awareness have minimized the risk of injury to young players.

This position is supported by sports medicine experts, among them Dr. Lyle Micheli, doctor of sports medicine and past president of the American College of Sports Medicine. Dr. Micheli, states in his book Sportswise: An Essential Guide for Young Athletes, Parents and Coaches, "In Pop Warner football, which is for children below the age of fourteen, injuries are very rare because the quality of supervision is very high." Dr. Micheli goes on to say, "On the other hand, soccer, which has a reputation for being a safe sport for both sexes, has been shown to have a high injury rate, particularly among the younger children."

I am not aware of any studies that would support the rash generalization made by this parent and I doubt that there are any studies supporting the claim. In an effort to find statistics on the incidence rate of growth plate injuries in youth football, I have contacted the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation. I will pass any information I receive on to you.

Thanks again for your question. Please tell me more about your program and your experiences as a youth coach. Also please let me know if I can be of further help.