Injury Rate in TackleBar Football

BACKGROUND: As football comes under greater scrutiny because of concussions and other injuries, many people are searching for safer alternatives, especially for youth athletes. The injury rate in TackleBar football, one such alternative, is not currently known. PURPOSE: To describe TackleBar football and calculate its injury rate over a single season to compare it with both traditional tackle and flag football. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive epidemiology study. METHODS: TackleBar football was described, and injuries of male athletes (age range, 9-14 years) participating in TackleBar football were tracked over the course of a season (August 5 through October 27, 2018) and compared with published injury rates for traditional tackle and flag football. RESULTS: The overall injury rate of TackleBar football was found to be 0.31 per 1000 athlete-exposures (AEs), which is lower than youth tackle (2.25-2.60/1000 AEs) and flag (5.77/1000 AEs) football. CONCLUSION: TackleBar football may represent a reasonable alternative to tackle and flag football with regard to injuries.