Are athletes whose families can afford the high cost of today's increasingly specialized and expensive youth sports paying another price - in higher rates of injury?

The answer appears to be yes.

New research presented at the International Olympic Committee World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport in Monaco in April 2014 for the first time links overuse injury rates in young athletes with their socioeconomic status.  

Researchers at Loyola University Medical Center found that the rate of serious overuse injuries in athletes who come from families that can afford private insurance is a whopping 68 percent higher than the rate for lower-income athletes whose families have public insurance (Medicaid).