Sport Specialization, Physical Performance and Injury History in Canadian Junior High School Students
# Background Youth sports participation is encouraged for proposed physical and psychological benefits. However early sport specialization and the potentially negative consequences may be a cause for concern. # Purpose To describe sport specialization in Canadian youth and investigate association...
Guardado en:
| Autores principales: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
North American Sports Medicine Institute
2021
|
| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/05ed959e35764803af016a2581cddc99 |
| Etiquetas: |
Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
|
| Sumario: | # Background
Youth sports participation is encouraged for proposed physical and psychological benefits. However early sport specialization and the potentially negative consequences may be a cause for concern.
# Purpose
To describe sport specialization in Canadian youth and investigate associations with previous injury and physical performance.
# Study design
Cross-sectional study.
# Methods
Junior high school students (grades 7-9, ages 11-16) were invited to participate. All participants completed a questionnaire capturing specialization level (low, moderate, high; based on year-round training, exclusion of other sports, and single-sport training) and injury history in the previous 12-months. Additionally, all participants completed physical performance measures including vertical jump (cm), predicted VO2max (mL/kg/min), single-leg balance (secs) and Y-Balance composite score (%). Logistic regression examined the association between school grade, school size, sex and sport specialization (Objective 1) and the association between sport specialization and injury history (Objective 2). Multivariable linear regression analyses (4) assessed associations between sport specialization category and physical performance measures (Objective 3).
# Results
Two hundred and thirty-eight students participated in the study. Eighteen percent of participants reported high specialization, with no significant associations between sex, grade or school size and specialization category. There was no significant difference in the odds of sustaining previous injury between participants reporting moderate (odds ratio [OR]=1.94, 95% CI 0.86-4.35) or high (OR=2.21, 95% CI 0.43-11.37) compared to low specialization. There were no significant differences in vertical jump height (mean diff [MD] = -0.4 to 2.1cm), predicted VO2max (MD = 2.2 to 3.1mL/kg/min), single leg balance (MD = 0.5 to 1.9sec) or Y-balance (MD = 0.6 to 7.0%) between sport specialization categories.
# Conclusions
Sport specialization exists in Canadian junior high schools but may be less common than previously reported and it was not associated with sex, grade, or school size. Level of specialization was not associated with history of injury nor a range of physical performance measures.
# Level of Evidence
Level 3 |
|---|