Injury prevention and return, concussion and heading, growth and maturation, strength and speed, load and sleep · 7 stories
Stories that name no age are only under all ages. A story for U8 to U12 is in both of those bands.
A one-season study of 58 male Norwegian academy players aged 12 to 19 found clinically diagnosed lower-limb apophyseal injuries in 12% of players in an average week, at 4.6 per 1,000 hours of exposure. Pubic apophysitis was the most common (32% of cases), and 77% of injuries had a gradual onset, with 81% starting during or just after training.
A small study of 15 male players aged 10-11 found that after about 14 hours without food or fluid, Yo-Yo intermittent recovery distance was significantly lower than when fed, while jump, 30-m sprint and agility times did not differ. Fasted players also had higher resting heart rate, fatigue and perceived exertion, and shorter sleep.
Rothman Orthopaedics researchers analyzed over 50,000 US youth soccer concussion emergency department visits from 2010 to 2023 and found concussion rates did not significantly decline after U.S. Soccer banned heading under age 10 in 2016. Most concussions come from player-to-player contact, not heading, and girls' soccer has one of the highest concussion rates among girls' sports.
A questionnaire study of 735 children aged 7 to 15 at a Medical University of Warsaw dental clinic found 42.9% had a parent-reported history of traumatic dental injury, rising to 49.7% among those playing sports versus 31.3% among non-participants. Football participation, rural residence and lower parental education were also linked to higher reported injury. Clinic-based sampling means the figures are not population estimates.
Environmental heat stress reduced 30:15 Intermittent Fitness Test performance in highly trained male youth players. Across 642 tests from 312 players over two seasons, scores fell by about 0.4 km/h in low-risk heat (22 to 28 °C WBGT) and 1.5 km/h in high-risk heat (above 28 °C), with a decline of 0.09 to 0.15 km/h per 1 °C rise in WBGT.
A randomized controlled trial in 74 female soccer players found that a 9-week elastic band program, done twice weekly before in-season training, improved knee extension strength in the U19 group (about 132 N in both legs). Knee flexion gains in the U15 and Senior groups were marginal, vertical jump and change-of-direction speed barely changed, and strength gains faded after 3 weeks without training.
Researchers at Nationwide Children's Hospital found that youth aged 11 to 17 who averaged about 141 minutes of screen time a day in the first three days after a concussion recovered 35% faster than those with 260 minutes. Two hours a day of smartphone or TV use was linked to quicker recovery; computer, tablet and gaming use was not.