Background: There is currently a lack of investigation of injuries in junior sport, compared to that of adult cohorts. Consequently, very few published studies have demonstrated the incidence of injuries among young participants of Australian football. The aim of this study was to determine the current rate of injury in junior Australian football, and describe the patterns and severity of these injuries across all levels of play, compared to those of McMahon et al. [1]. Methods: The Junior Australian Football Safety Study was completed during 2004 using teams from New South Wales and Victoria across nine levels of play (U9 to U18). Participation and injury data were collected prospectively from all games and training sessions by Primary Data Collectors. The region, nature and cause of injury were collected on injuries that were defined in accordance with a previous 1993 study. Injury severity was identified by the action of players immediately after the injury event. Results: Overall, 40,208 hours of exposure were recorded with an injury rate of 18.0 injuries per 1,000 player hours (95% CI=16.6-19.3). Hand/finger injuries were common among all players. The main causes of injury were body contact (67%), other contact (12%) and game movement (10%). There was an increase in the frequency of sprains and strains, and injury severity with level of play. Of the injuries where the player left the field of play, 63% were able to return to participation. The rates of injury for players who did not continue participation or were advised to seek further medical aid were low. Only 28% of all injured players were advised to seek medical treatment with few injuries taken to hospital (5%). Conclusion: An observed reduction of injury rate in the U15 level of play compared to a similar 1993 study (McMahon et al.), suggests that safe game development at the junior level is likely to have been effective over the past decade. Implications for future skill development include the introduction of incidental body contact skills with further ball-handling skill development in young players, and the introduction of proprioception exercises for players at higher levels of play.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/229835 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Romiti, Maria Assunta, Safety Science, Faculty of Science, UNSW |
| Publisher | Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Safety Science |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Maria Assunta Romiti, http://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/copyright |
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