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Healthwatch 16: Lack of Support Causing Athlete Injuries

MAHONING TOWNSHIP — A study indicates a spike in testicular injuries to young male athletes, and research done by Geisinger on those athletes in our area ...
athletic support

MAHONING TOWNSHIP -- A study indicates a spike in testicular injuries to young male athletes, and research done by Geisinger on those athletes in our area points to one reason why they're getting hurt and how it can be prevented.

There is a lot of attention in sports on preventing certain injuries, but apparently not much focus on one sensitive injury for young men.

Geisinger researchers surveyed more than 700 male high school and college athletes in central Pennsylvania and found only 13 percent of them wear athletic supporters.

"It all started because in a period of a year and a half, we saw four severe injuries to male athletes requiring surgery and one of them did lose a testicle," said Geisinger pediatric urologist Dr. Joel Sumfest.

Dr. Sumfest was surprised by a spike in severe injuries, but the study he led showed even more of a problem: 18 percent of athletes surveyed had some kind of testicular injury.

Of those injured, the most came in lacrosse, followed by wrestling, baseball and then football. Sumfest says football injuries tended to be the worst. He believes in generations past, players were more protected.

"People wore them. That was just expected. That's not the case. When we asked them why they don't wear a cup, the most common answer was, 'It's uncomfortable.'"

Here are the main excuses athletes gave for not wearing an athletic supporter:

  • I did not know about it.
  • It's uncomfortable and I play worse wearing it.
  • Nobody told me to wear it.
  • I had no access to a protective cup.

"It honestly was not surprising because I've asked when injuries have happened, 'Are you protected? Are your wearing your stuff?' And the answer is no," said Roxanna Larsen, sports medicine program manager.

Larsen oversees all the athletic trainers Geisinger has at schools throughout our area. She says most of those trainers at these games witness injuries where players aren't wearing that athletic supporter.

She believes coaches and parents need to convince the boys to wear them and so do the researchers.

"They don't want to be slowed down and depending on their age, it's still an embarrassing topic," said Larsen.

"I know my own son, when he played baseball, he wore a cup most of the time. Sometimes he didn't. He took a pretty good injury and he modified his behavior," added Dr. Sumfest.

What surprised the Geisinger researchers the most though is that only 20 percent of the young men who had a testicular injury, or knew someone on the team who had one, decided it was a good idea to wear an athletic supporter.

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