Achy athletes.Heads up: Which high school athletes have the highest rate of injury? If you said tough-guy football jocks, guess again. In a recent study, girls' cross-country cross-coun·try Abbr. XC or X-C adj. 1. Moving or directed across open country rather than following tracks, roads, or runs: a cross-country race. 2. runners came out on top (see chart). Surprised? So was chief researcher Stephen Rice Stephen Rice (born in Dublin, October 6 1984) is an Irish footballer currently playing for Bohemians in the League of Ireland. Career Stephen was signed by then Bohs manager Stephen Kenny in 2003, after spells in the youth ranks at Coventry City FC and Shelbourne F.C. . From 1979 to 1992, while working to improve sports-injury management in schools, Rice collected data on 18 high school sports involving 60,000 teen atheletes. He found that for every 1,000 athletic exposures (times athletes practiced or competed) female cross-country runners experienced 17.3 injuries. These included tendinitis tendinitis or tendonitis Inflammation of a tendon sheath, due to irritation of this thin, filmy tissue by overuse of the tendons, which slide within them, or to bacterial infection. of the knee, shin splints Shin Splints Definition Shin splints refer to the sharp pains that occur down the front of the lower leg. They are a common complaint, particularly among runners and other athletes. , and ankle sprains ankle sprain Orthopedics A stretching of the ankle ligaments and/or muscles with swelling . By contrast, male football players had 12.7 injuries per 1,000 athletic exposures--a difference of 36 percent. Why the high rate among girls? Biology, for one, says Rice. Because heavy exercise is linked with missed menstrual cycles menstrual cycle n. The recurring cycle of physiological changes in the uterus, ovaries, and other sexual structures that occur from the beginning of one menstrual period through the beginning of the next. , many young female runners may have low levels of estrogen, a bone-protecting hormone hormone, secretory substance carried from one gland or organ of the body via the bloodstream to more or less specific tissues, where it exerts some influence upon the metabolism of the target tissue. that is normally released throughout the menstrual cycle. Another factor is over-training. As cross-country becomes more popular, the competition gets fiercer. To keep up, some girls overtrain--without enough rest or a coach's supervision, says Rice. Runners should realize that like football, "cross-country is a contact sport," he adds. Contact with the ground can be just as damaging as body contact, if not more so. But runners and other atheletics can avoid injury. Rice's advice: "Wear good shoes Good Shoes is a four-piece English indie pop band, hailing from Morden, London. Biography Good Shoes was formed by lead singer Rhys Jones and guitarist Steve Leach who often wrote and played music together as a hobby. , run on soft surfaces, get plenty of rest, and eat right."
WHICH SPORT HURT MOST?
RANK SPORT SEASON INJURY RATE/1000
ATHLETIC EXPOSURES
1. Girls' cross-country fall 17.3
2. Football fall 12.7
3. Wrestling winter 11.8
4. Girls' soccer fall 11.6
5. Boys' cross-country fall 10.5
6. Girls gymnastics winter 10.0
7. Boys soccer spring 9.5
8. Girls' basketball winter 7.1
9. Girls' track spring 6.2
10. Boys basketball winter 5.5
11. Volleyball fall 5.4
12. Softball spring 4.8
13. Boys' track spring 4.4
14. Baseball spring 4.2
15. Fastpitch softball spring 2.4
16. Co-ed swimming winter 2.2
17. Co-ed tennis fall/spring 1.9
18. Co-ed golf fall/spring 0.8
Data contributed by 21 different high schools. (C) Stephen G.
Rice, M.D., 1993.
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