Injuries, risk factors and prevention initiatives in youth sport.
BACKGROUND
Sports injuries in young athletes are a public health issue which deserves special attention. Effective prevention can be achieved with training programmes originating from the field of physical therapy and medicine.


METHODS
A systematic literature search on injury prevention in youth sport was performed in the MEDLINE database.


RESULTS
For prevention programmes to reduce sports injuries, critical factors must be considered, such as training content, duration and frequency, as well as athlete compliance.


RESULTS
Home-based programmes could be inferior to supervised training, but are efficient if compliance is high. So far prevention programmes have focused on team sports and their efficiency in individual sports remains to be proven.


CONCLUSIONS
Active prevention programmes focusing specifically on the upper extremity are scarce. Initiatives enhancing the awareness of trainers, athletes and therapists about risk factors and systematic prevention measures should be encouraged.
Frisch
Anne
A
Sports Medicine Research Laboratory, Public Research Centre for Health, L-1445 Strassen, Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg.
Croisier
Jean-Louis
JL
Urhausen
Axel
A
Seil
Romain
R
Theisen
Daniel
D
D000208:Acute Disease; D000293:Adolescent; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013177:Sports; D055815:Young Adult