Academic stress ups injury risk in college players

New York: College football players are more likely to experience injuries during test weeks when they have high academic stress than during training camp, says a new study.

The effects of academic stress on injury occurrences are even more pronounced among starting players, the researchers found.

"We know when there will be midterms or finals, and we can plan for these academic stressors and accommodate practices accordingly to minimize the risk of injuries," said one of the researchers Bryan Mann, assistant professor of physical therapy at University of Missouri in the US.

"Everything players deal with on a daily basis creates stress. They don't have separate accounts to withdraw from for practice, school and relationships. Whenever there's stress, something's got to give. 

The researchers studied weekly injury reports for 101 athletes from college football team during a 20-week season. 

Sixty different athletes had 86 injury restrictions during the season. 

The researchers found that players were 3.19 times more likely to have an injury restriction during weeks when they had high academic stress, such as midterms or finals, than during weeks when they had low academic stress. 

When the researchers compared players' injury restrictions for weeks of high physical stress - such as training camp - and weeks of low academic stress, athletes were 2.84 times more likely to have injury restrictions.

The findings appeared in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research.