SYDNEY, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Australia's favorable weather and active outdoor lifestyle sees young athletes thrive down under, however a new study on Monday also shows an alarming trend when it comes to sporting injuries.
Griffith University and Knee Research Australia found the county has the highest reported rates of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction in the world.
Over the past 15 years, the surgery rate has increased by 74 percent for Australians aged under 25, with children aged under 14 the fastest growing demographic for ACL injuries.
"Annual growth in incidence was greatest in the 5-14-year-old age group (boys, 7.7 percent; girls, 8.8 percent)," director of Knee Research Australia, Associate Professor Christopher Vertullo said.
"Direct hospital costs of ACL reconstruction surgery in 2014-15 were estimated to be 142 million Australian dollars (109 million U.S. dollars)."
With lifelong repercussions, ACL injuries most often occur when and individual changes direction quickly while playing a multi-directional sport such as Australian football, rugby, basketball, soccer or skiing.
Vertullo believes the reason why the injury is increasing so rapidly in Australia is due to "earlier specialization in younger athletes, longer sporting seasons, more intense training, higher levels of competition and a lack of free play."
"In the long term, almost all individuals who tear an ACL are at increased risk of osteoarthritis and disability, and this risk is substantially increased by concurrent meniscal injury."
With the injury becoming so common for young athletes in Australia, Vertullo is calling on the government to establish a national ACL injury prevention program.
"The increasing incidence of ACL injury in Australia is an emerging public health problem with potentially detrimental long-term health outcomes, especially for young people," he said.