American journal of epidemiology
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Use of protective equipment is an important sports injury prevention strategy, yet use of protective equipment by high school athletes has seldom been studied. The authors analyzed data from a 3-year (1996-1999), stratified, two-stage cluster sample of athletes from 12 organized sports in 100 North Carolina high schools (n = 19,728 athlete-seasons). Information on each athlete's use of protective equipment and prior injury was collected during the preseason. ⋯ Knee brace use and ankle brace use were associated with increased rates of knee injury (RR = 1.61, 95% CI: 1.08, 2.41) and ankle injury (RR = 1.74, 95% CI: 1.11, 2.72), respectively. This could be due to slippage of the brace during use, increased fatigue due to the energy cost of wearing a brace, or bias in the study. Further investigation into the effects of brace use is warranted.