Injuries in physical education of high school. A problem?

Abstract

The incidence of injuries in physical education class should be a priority factor for public health. The aim of this study is to analyze the incidence of injuries in Physical Education (PE) lessons and how they relate to lack of full student participation. Prospective cohort study. Conglomerate bi-stage sampling for a total of 637 students. Absence and injuries were recorded for the school year. Of 1463 lessons, only 4.58% were documented with identification of the absences caused by injury (0.33% of the total participation expected). The rate of injuries produced in PE lessons was of 1.90 for every 1000 hours of participation. The frequency of absence of in PE lessons due to injury is very low compared to the overall expected participation; therefore it is not a factor that influences the rate of student participation significantly.