Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Each year, on average 1.26 million students face physical injuries at German schools and universities. Implementation of systematic prevention programs against school-associated injuries in adolescents is poor. Part of the reason might be a lack of data on nature and frequency of common school-associated injuries.
OBJECTIVE:
The aim of this study was to obtain qualitative and quantitative data that might help to develop prevention or protection strategies against sport-associated injuries at school.
METHODS:
A retrospective analysis was conducted on all patients between the ages of 10 and 16 years admitted from January 1
RESULTS:
A significant part of school-associated injuries occurred in school sports (55.7%). The frequency of school sport-associated injuries per school day did not differ between months or seasons of the school year. Most injuries occurred between the ages of thirteen to fifteen. Ball sports were associated with 41% of all sport-associated injuries, particularly with soccer (22%). Distal extremities like hands (38.4%) and feet/ankle (30.3%) were predominantly injured, but only 5% of cases needed surgery.
CONCLUSIONS:
Most school-associated injuries occur in school sport, particularly with ball sports. Mostly, distal extremities were injured. Implementation of systematic prevention strategies for a reduction in finger injuries should be subject of future research.
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