Injury prediction in the young athlete: a preliminary report

Joint flexibility and laxity as measured by 5 indices among 2,300 West Point cadets demonstrated no statistical relationship to joint injuries, or the need for surgical intervention resulting from injuries sustained in general athletic competition involving the ankle, knee, shoulder, or elbow. Similarly, no relationships were seen in a high school and collegiate football team. Parameters of flexibility vary significantly among different athletic population groups as related to age, sex, and type of athletic activity in which the individual is participating. In that part of the study conducted during the 1975 football season, the 16PF showed some potential for predicting injuries. However, stronger relationships between predictor and criterion variables must be established in the future before injury predisposition counseling is a possibility. Hopefully, continuing study will bring this into being and will extend to younger and younger individuals and other population groups. This would facilitate the development of an injury profile index to assist in the counseling of athletes into sports where their individual traits are protective and beneficial, rather than detrimental.