Riskiest Sport? Try Girls Cross Country -- It's More Perilous Than Football, Study Says

You think football is the riskiest sport when it comes to injuries? Think again.

Girls cross country has the most injuries of all high school sports - 61.4 per 100 athletes, according to a recent study.

Football ranked second at 58.8 per 100; wrestling came in third at 49.7.

Though there are many more high school football players than cross-country runners, when compared per capita, the injury rate among runners ranked slightly higher.

And although injuries generally are more serious in football than among runners, muscle sprains and twisted ankles also can sideline a runner for several weeks.

Stephen G. Rice, professor of sports medicine at the University of Washington, conducted the study, which was released through his organization, the American Health Care System.

Rice studied 60,000 athletes in 18 sports from 1979 to 1992. Using a complex computer network, he had coaches at 20 Los Angeles- and Seattle-area high schools collect and chart the injury data of their athletes.

"They were as accurate and as truthful as could be," Rice said.

Rice acknowledges that his survey offers no solutions, but it did produce three key findings:

-- In identical boy-girl sports, such as soccer, cross country, basketball and track, girls had a higher rate of injury.

-- Fall sports had a higher rate of injury than spring sports.

Football, gymnastics and wrestling are traditional high-risk sports, followed by soccer and cross country.

"To me, it's a real wake-up call to the cross country world because these ought to be preventable injuries," Rice said. "In terms of three-week injuries - those that either keep you out or on a limited basis for 15 or more turnouts (practice or competition) - boys football and girls cross country are equal.

"That doesn't make sense, but you can't argue with my numbers: 60,000 athletes, 2 1/2 million days of turnouts."

This was not the type of publicity girls cross country needs, say coaches.

"All it does is scare parents half to death," said Karen DeVries, cross country coach at Valparaiso (Ind.) High School.

"To say it's a dangerous sport is very misleading," added coach Cabot Holmes of defending Indiana state champion Elston High School in Michigan City.

Rice said his survey has been endorsed by the American College of Sports Medicine in Indianapolis. But an advisory member there, Keith Williams of the University of California, said he'd need to examine how the data were gathered before commenting on their legitimacy.

"There could be a lot of hidden factors involved as to why the injury rate in girls cross country is so high," said Williams, an authority on distance running.

He cited the level of qualified coaching, availability of trainers and differences in the female anatomy.

Williams noted that women generally have a wider pelvis, which leads to overuse injuries.

The coaches cited additional factors.

DeVries of Valparaiso said female runners often don't train as well during the summer as their male counterparts, thereby increasing the chances for injury.

"Plus, most cross country teams consist of five to 10 runners. If you lose one or two to injury, that sounds like a high number, when you're actually dealing with (maybe) seven girls," she said.

No backing off

Rice broke his survey down even further by listing injuries "per 1,000 athletic exposures" and still found girls cross country to be the leader - 17.3 to 12.7 - over football.

The female's variation in muscle strength, anatomy and menstruation are contributing factors to cross-country injuries, according to Rice.

He said the average time missed, due to injury, was four to five days.

Sprained ankles and sore shins are common among her runners, DeVries said. In seven seasons as coach, she has lost only one girl to serious injury.

Ken Witt, coach at Crown Point (Ind.) High School, said: "The girls I've coached over the years are fierce competitors who want to go, go, go. They push themselves through the pain until an injury occurs, rather than back off."

Witt said he's had runners wait as long as two or three weeks before reporting an injury to him.

Avoiding overuse

The female runner's body is likely to have a greater number of hip (tendinitis), Achilles' tendon and patella tendon injuries, according to the Athletic Training and Sports Medicine Book.

In addition, the inward bend of a female's legs, from hips to knees, is often blamed for the high number of overuse injuries in girls cross country.

"My legs really can't take the pounding," said Crown Point junior Carrie Kosik, who blames her physical problems on poor running form. "I've had shin splints and problems with my back. And after a workout, my calves are killing me.

"But I love to run, so you just do the best you can."

Holmes of Elston said off-season training is the key.

"You can't just start running Aug. 5 (the callout date) and expect to compete," he warned. "A lot of the injuries can be avoided if they do a gradual buildup in their training."

Holmes added that most overuse injuries are dealt with through orthotics - custom-made foot supports.

Michael Marasco, a podiatrist in Merrillville, Ind., has practiced sports medicine for 17 years and said recognizing an overuse syndrome is the best way to prevent injuries from becoming aggravated with time.

"I would hate to see somebody tell their child not to compete, based purely on this survey," he said.