High School RIO™

High School RIO™ is the internet-based data collection tool used in the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study. This study was first implemented during the 2005/06 academic year and has been maintained annually. First established as a high school correlate to the highly successful NCAA Injury Surveillance System, the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study evolved over time to best fulfill the needs of the high school sports community of student athletes, parents, pediatric sports medicine clinicians, high school athletic directors, local/state high school athletic associations/administrators and the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations). 

High School RIO™ captures athletic exposure (number of athlete practices and number of athlete competitions per week), injury (body site, diagnosis, severity, etc) and injury event (mechanism, activity, position/event, field/court location, etc) data weekly throughout the academic year using certified athletic trainers (ATCs) as data reporters.

Thw data has been used to describe the rates, patterns and trends of high school sports-related injuries. Such epidemiologic analysis is the necessary first step toward the development, implementation and evaluation of evidence-based, targeted prevention programs to reduce the number and/or severity of injuries among high school athletes.

Stated more simply, by understanding the who, what, why, where and how of injuries, we can offer recommendations to make sports as safe as possible for student athletes. Thus, High School RIO™ data is used to encourage as many student athletes as possible to safely play sports which will in turn increase physical activity, improve physical fitness levels and lead to life-long healthy behaviors.

Which Sports Are Studied?

History of The National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study*

This important ongoing prospective surveillance study was originally developed in 2005 by Dr. Comstock white at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital. Methodological consultation/guidance/support was received from several sources including the following:

• The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (Dr. Vito Perriello and Jerry Diehl)
• The National Collegiate Athletic Association, Injury Surveillance System (Randy Dick, MS)
• The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research (Dr. Fred Mueller)
• The National Athletic Trainers’ Association Secondary School Athletic Trainers’ Committee (Jon Almquist, ATC)
• The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, Division of Data Systems (Dr. Art McDonald)
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (Dr. Julie Gilchrist)

The study is now run from The Pediatric Injury Prevention Education and Research (PIPER) Programat the Colorado School of Public Health .

Study Reports

Visit the RIO™ Study Reports page to view the annual summary reports from the National High School Sports-Related Injury Surveillance Study through 2011-2012 season. More recent reports can be found at PIPER .

Links to other organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by the Center for Injury Research and Policy, The Research Institute or Nationwide Children's Hospital, and none should be inferred. The Center for Injury Research and Policy is not responsible for the content of the individual organization web pages found at these links.