General Safety

Girls who play sports more than 8 hours per week are twice as likely as their less active peers to suffer a stress fracture, a new study finds. Most at risk were those engaged in three activities (running, basketball and cheerleading/gymnastics) which involve repeated jumping and landing which place particuarly high stress on bone, with the risk of injury increasing about 8 percent for each extra hour of activity over four per week.

Which high school sports pose the highest risk of severe injury?  Football leads the list, slightly more than wrestling and more than twice the rate in girls' basketball and girls' soccer.  The safest of the nine studied? Girls volleyball.