A new study out of the University of Wisconsin revealed that high school athletes who specialize in a single sport are more likely to suffer lower-extremity injuries than athletes who played multiple sports.
For their study, researchers tracked more than 1,500 student athletes across 29 high schools in Wisconsin during the 2015-16 athletic year. To make their study as fair as possible, they tracked schools with small enrollments, medium enrollments, large enrollments and in urban, rural and suburban locations. Researchers tracked the injury rates of athletes who participated in a single sport compared to athletes who played multiple sports and found that those who played one sport had significantly higher rates of lower-body injuries than multi-sport athletes.
Sport Specialization and Injury Rates
Researchers found that athletes who participated in one sport were twice as likely to report a lower-extremity injury during sporting activity (46 percent) than athletes who participated in multiple sports (24 percent). Additionally, teens who participated in one sport sustained 60 percent more new lower-extremity injuries during the study than athletes who did not specialize.
“While we have long believed that sport specialization by high school athletes leads to an increased risk of overuse injury, this study confirms those beliefs about the potential risks of sport specialization,” said Bob Gardner, National Federation of State High School Associations Foundation executive director. “Coaches, parents and student-athletes need to be aware of the injury risks involved with an overemphasis in a single sport.”
The most common locations for injuries were the ankle (43 percent) and knee (23 percent), while the most common injury types were ligament strains (51 percent) and muscle/tendon strains (20 percent). Other findings from the study include:
- New injuries during the year-long study most often occurred to the ankle (34 percent), the knee (25 percent) and the upper leg (13 percent).
- One-sport athletes were twice as likely to sustain a gradual onset/repetitive-use injury than multi-sport athletes.
- 34 percent of student-athletes in Wisconsin specialize in one sport, with females more likely to specialize (41 percent) than males (28 percent).
- Athletes who played a high school sport and a club sport at the same time also expressed an increased risk of lower-extremity injury.
The findings are interesting, but not all that surprising when you understand the underlying mechanisms involved. Students who participate in one sport are training and testing the same muscle groups all throughout the year, whereas multi-sport athletes are working different muscle groups. If one group of muscles is very defined while the other nearby muscles are weaker, you can open yourself up for injury. Additionally, if you only work one group of muscles, that area can break down do to overstress.
If you want to stay injury free, vary your training and workout regimens. Do some cross-training so other muscle groups are worked and one area doesn’t become too defined or overworked.