Annals of Medicine

Large numbers of youth (aged <18 years) engage in organized sports worldwide, benefitting physically, psychologically, socially, and academically. However, sports participation is also associated with injury risk for participants. In general, the injury risks for youth participants are mild-moderate. At a population level, because of the large number of participants, the healthcare burden can be large. Thus, efforts to mitigate injury are important public health interventions. Further, injuries sustained during youth sports can result in adverse outcomes such as drop-out from participation or longer-term impacts such as osteoarthritis and pain.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in specific challenges for youth sport participation, causing complete stoppages to restructuring and re-scheduling. Both empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that as a broader return to sport has been possible, injury incidence rates have increased. As a result, it is crucial to have renewed focus on injury prevention programming targeted at health and safety of youth sport athletes.

The goal of this Article Collection is to solicit the contribution and submission of any articles and findings in injury prevention in youth sports. We encourage research that provides insights into the following areas of interest:

1. Consideration of marginalized and underrepresented communities within local, national, and global contexts.
2. Examinations of emerging sports, be they newly established in a particular geographic region or rising in popularity globally.
3. A focus on implementation science and knowledge translation, and/or community-based participatory research.
4. Multi-level examinations of the factors that influence the development of interventions, as well as their implementation and evaluation. This may include behavioural, interpersonal, organizational, cultural, and policy-driven elements.
5. Consequences and solutions addressing challenges experienced because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Annals of Medicine accepts the following types of articles:

• Research Article (systematic/meta-analysis reviews and observational studies)
• Review Article
• Clinical Trials
• Protocols
• Case Series
• Commentary

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Dr. Zachary Yukio Kerr is an Associate Professor in the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at the University of North Carolina, and serves as Core Faculty with the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center. Dr. Kerr’s research and expertise focuses on the evaluation of injury prevention strategies related to concussion and heat stroke, particularly via injury surveillance and survey research. Dr. Kerr’s collaborations with numerous injury prevention, athletic training, and sports medicine experts have resulted in the publication of over 230 research articles.

https://exss.unc.edu/faculty-staff/zachary-kerr/

Dr. Lauren Fortington is a Senior Research Fellow in injury epidemiology and injury prevention. Her research aims to support active populations to participate safely in sport, work and everyday activity. Dr Fortington’s work spans different settings (sport, community, military), populations (youth, adult and older people) and health problems (musculoskeletal injury, concussion, falls, heat illness) with a common thread that a better understanding of health problems and their prevention will keep more people active in their sport, work and community.

http://www.ecu.edu.au/schools/medical-and-health-sciences/our-staff/profiles/senior-research-fellows/dr-lauren-fortington

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Disclosure Statement: Dr. Kerr discloses current and previous funding from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Defense, National Collegiate Athletic Association, and National Football League. Dr. Fortington has current and previous project funding from various sport, health and government agencies.

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is October 1st, 2024.

When submitting your article, please select the section, 'Sports Medicine & Musculoskeletal Disorders', and the Special Issue, 'Injury Prevention in Youth Sports' from the drop-down menu on the submission system.

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Annals of Medicine is an online, open access, international journal publishing across all areas of medicine and is part of our Elevate Series. This means that you will receive a concierge-level publishing experience, including dedicated support from our expert in-house Editorial team, with guaranteed response times of within 48 hours, an initial decision on whether your article will be peer reviewed within 5 working days, and a first decision on your research within an average of 22 working days.

All manuscripts submitted to this Article Collection will undergo a full peer-review; the Guest Advisor for this collection will not be handling the manuscripts (unless they are an Editorial Board member). Please review the journal scope and author submission instructions prior to submitting a manuscript.  

The deadline for submitting manuscripts is October 1st, 2024.

Instructions for AuthorsSubmit an Article