Study: Teen athletes skipping athletic cups

Just in time for school sports season comes scientific evidence that young men really do think they're invincible: Just 13 percent of male high school and college athletes surveyed said they wear a protective athletic cup.

Doctors at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pa., wanted to learn the prevalence of sports-related testicular injuries and use of protective equipment. So they distributed 1,700 surveys (and got back 731) to players at local high schools and colleges.

More than 36 percent had observed testicular injuries among team members and 18 percent had experienced them. The prevalence varied considerably among sports: nearly 49 percent for lacrosse, 33 percent for wrestling, 21 percent for baseball, and 18 percent for football.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was the impact that injury had on future behavior: Players whose testicles had been hurt said they were more likely to wear athletic cups but not dramatically so: 20 percent of those who were injured said they would use them, just seven percentage points more than all respondents. College players were even less likely to wear them.

Writing in the journal Urology, study authors Joel Michael Sumfest, a pediatric urologist at Geisinger, and Jared Bieniek, a former resident, concluded that previously reported rates of testicular injury may have been underestimated for adolescent and young adult athletes "among whom testicular protective equipment is infrequently used."

In an accompanying editorial comment, Douglas A. Canning, chief of urology at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, said that the "surprisingly" low use of athletic cups suggested that "We need to work harder in counseling patients on the importance of wearing protection during organized contact sports."

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