Interventions to Prevent Sports and Recreation-Related Injuries

Participation in sports, recreation, and exercise is an important part of a healthy, physically active lifestyle; however, injuries due to sports and recreational activities are a significant public health problem. Injuries can occur as a result of organized sports activities in schools, clubs, or leagues; but many injuries also occur in informal settings, such as sports played in backyards or neighborhoods. In this chapter, we address injuries related to sports, such as basketball, football, and soccer; recreational activities, such as biking, skating, skiing, and playground activities; and exercise and training activities, such as weight training, aerobics, and jogging. Although swimming and other water sports are recreational activities, drowning prevention is addressed in another chapter. Injury surveillance in the United States suggests that the sports and recreational activities most commonly associated with injuries vary by age but include basketball, bicycling, exercising (e.g., aerobics, jogging, and weight training), football, baseball/ softball, soccer, skating (ice/in-line/roller), snow sports, gymnastics/cheerleading, playground activities, and horseback riding. It is not currently possible to compare risks across activities because population-based participation estimates (or exposures) are not available. Given the fact that these are popular activities and public health mandates since the 1950’s include promotion of regular exercise, the potential exposure to injury risk associated with these activities is high.