ACL Tears In Sports & ACL Injury Statistics (High School)

ACL TEARS IN SPORTS - STATISTICS AND PERCENTAGES

(Note: the primary reference for this article is a 2013 study comparing ACL injury statistics in High School Athletes. This is reflected in the fact that the sport of skiing doesn't rank high on the list for ACL statistics, despite being a regular offender when it comes to ACL tears. I'll cover that topic at the end.)

Advances in medicine have made it possible for us to all but rule out the phrase “career-ending”. This is great news for our high school athletes. Not only do they want to excel at their sport in the short term. They also want to play at a high level as they continue to enjoy playing in the future.

So parents, if you have a child who suffers an ACL tear, don't worry. There is work to do, but your young athlete will definitely be back up to speed soon.

Let's talk ACL tears and how often we see this injury in our high school athletes.

ACl Tears in Sports - High School Basketball

5.5% (Males)

26.5% (Females)

"Hoops" is one of the most popular sports in the world, and for good reason. It's exciting, fast-paced, has lots of scoring. Basketball seems tailor-made for the modern sports audience. That's one of the reasons that the sport continues to grow at a high rate. And anybody can play basketball and enjoy it. You don't have to be a pro to have fun playing hoops at the local playground.

Basketball is also a game that is very dependent upon the act of jumping. And with all that jumping comes landing. And all that jumping and landing doesn't always go as planned. We know from watching some of our favorite NBA stars go down with ACL Injuries.

Let's bring in our study, here. According to the 2013 Study: "A Multi-sport Epidemiologic Comparison of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in High School Athletics", we see the following stats:

  • about 5.5% of ACL injuries to male high school athletes occurred on the basketball court.

  • About 26.5% of ACL injuries to female high school athletes occurred on the basketball court


Wow! We already see the chasm between females and males when it comes to the rate of ACL tears. 've got a lot to say about this topic. To learn more about out why females suffer a higher rate of ACL Tears, please visit my site dedicated to the topic. The Female ACL.

One interesting note, here. A far higher rate of ACL tears occurred during competition, not practice. It may be that the increased intensity leads to greater instances of injuries. But I'll leave it to the stat-heads to delve into this further.

ACl Tears in Sports - High School Soccer

7.2% (Males)

53.2% (Females)

Did you know soccer is by far the world's most popular sport? It used to be uncommon to see a game on tv in the USA. Even then soccer games were relagated to the backwaters of subscription cable. Not anymore! These days you'll see teams like Liverpool, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich on national tv. And to our youngsters, it's totally normal to root for European. teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, and Real Madrid.

So of course, with the uptick in exposure comes more kids playing soccer. It's a fun sport that keeps our youngsters fit and active.

Here's the bad news. When it comes to ACL tears, soccer as a sport is one of our top offenders. Let's take a look at the stats:

  • For the young men, soccer was the sport second-most likely to result in an ACL tear, at 17.2%.

  • For the young ladies, soccer is the top offender. You may have suspected this already from the anecdotal evidence in the media. But it's still startling to hear that a whopping 53.2% of ACL injuries in high school female athletes occurred playing soccer.

ACL Tears in Sports - High School Softball and Volleyball (Women)

Softball 11.4%,
Volleyball 8.8%



Softball is a high school sport exclusively played by women (the guys play baseball). It's also high on our list of high school sports that see a high rate of ACL Tears in young ladies. And while volleyball is also played by men, we primarily see the injury in female volleyball players.

ACL Tears in Sports - High School Football (Males)

71.2%



Look at that number! High school football is the big kahuna when it comes to ACL injuries in our young male athletes. You only have to watch a couple of minutes of football to see why playing this sport results in knee injuries.

Speed. Twisting. Cutting and collision. Big, strong bodies trying to impose their physical will upon one another. All this means that knees end up in positions they don't belong in.

So, it's not a surprise that when it comes to the guys, the study has football as the top offender for ACL tears by miles. Can you believe that over 71 percent of ACL tears in male high school athletes occur in football? Yet another reason to take pause before pushing your son to hit the gridiron.

ACL Tears In Sports - What's The Takeaway?

Let's recap, here.

Sport with the highest rate of ACL tears in high school boys = Football

Sport with the highest rate of ACL tears in high school girls = Soccer

By taking a look at the stats we see a couple of obvious things that stand out from an observational standpoint.

  1. The higher the rate of contact in the sport, the higher the rate of ACL injuries per sport.

  2. More bodies running around on the field = more injuries. Agility sports have more ACL tears.

  3. In sports which both boys and girls play, the ladies have higher rates of ACL tears. This is consistent across all sport.


For a WAY more in-depth look at this topic, please visit the study that was the source of our statistics, here. And to read more about ACL tears in females, click here.

Wait Just One Minute, What About ACL Injuries in Skiing?


Ah, skiing. A sport so near and dear to my heart. If you read my blog often, chances are you're a skier too. And parents who ski have kids who ski. So, let's take a look.

We've been evaluating the occurrences of ACL injuries to high school-agedathletess here today, based on the percentages. When it comes to those percentages, Skiing isn't a major factor for high school athletes. We know it's a rarified sport, access-wise. Think about it: most high schools don't even have a competitive ski team.

But in the world I live in (high-level alpine ski racing), ACL tears are a very frequent occurrence. These racers are pushing their knees to the limit, and ACL tears are almost part of the game. It bears repeating; many top racers have had outstanding results after ACL repair.

And then we have the weekend warriors out there shredding powder while shredding ACLS in the process. My point is, skiers do suffer a very high rate of ACL tears. That's a separate discussion, but if you want to delve into it you have plenty of content to peruse on my blog.