Center for Injury Research and Policy

MIDDLE SCHOOL RIO™

As the number of middle school/Pop Warner football participants increases over time, so do the number of injuries sustained by middle school aged athletes. Researchers at The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Center for Injury Research and Policy and The Ohio State University, College of Medicine and College of Public Health are currently conducting the 2011-2012 Middle School RIO™ Study, an internet-based surveillance study of injuries sustained by middle school aged football players.

By participating in this project, Dr. Comstock and her team will learn more about how middle school football players are injured so they can determine the best way to protect them from being hurt. The injury information collected will provide a basis for recommendations to reduce the number of middle school football-related injuries.

This research project uses RIO™ (Reporting Information Online), an internet-based surveillance system, to collect data from a national sample of middle school and Pop Warner football participants to identify rates and patterns of injury and to identify risk and protective factors for sports injuries at the middle school level. The surveillance system being used in this study was modeled after the successful National Collegiate Athletic Association Injury Surveillance System (NCAA ISS) and High School RIO™, systems that consistently produce high quality data on sports-related injuries, exposures, and risk factors among collegiate and high school athletes.

If you and your school/team would like to participate in the 2011-2012 Middle School RIO™ Study or if you simply want additional information about this important project, please visit the study website.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Dawn Comstock, PhD
Principal Investigator
highschoolrio@nationwidechildrens.org
(614) 722-2400
(614) 722-2448 Fax