Sports Injury Facts
According to the National Athletic Trainers' Association:
According to SAFE KIDS USA:
- More than 3.5 million children ages 14 and under receive medical treatment for sports injuries each year.
- Injuries associated with participation in sports and recreational activities account for 21 percent of all traumatic brain injuries among children in the United States.
- Overuse injury, which occurs over time from repeated motion, is responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle-and high-school students. Immature bones, insufficient rest after an injury and poor training or conditioning contribute to overuse injuries among children.
- Most organized sports related injuries (62 percent) occur during practices rather than games. Despite this fact, a third of parents often do not take the same safety precautions during their child's practices as they would for a game.
- A recent survey found that among athletes ages 5 to 14, 15 percent of basketball players, 28 percent of football players, 22 percent of soccer players, 25 percent of baseball players and 12 percent of softball players have been injured while playing their respective sports.
- Children ages 5 to 14 account for nearly 40 percent of all sports-related injuries treated in hospital emergency departments. The rate and severity of sports-related injury increases with a child's age.
According to the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System All Injury Program:
- In 2001, the number of sport-related injuries for each sport are as follows:
- Gymnastics — 99,722
- Basketball — 680,307
- Baseball — 170,902
- Softball — 118,354
- Football — 413,620
- Soccer — 163,003
- Volleyball — 55,860
- Track & Field — 15,113
- Hockey — 63,945
According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research Twentieth Annual Report:
- From 1982-2002, the total numbers of direct and indirect fatalities among high school athletes were:
- Baseball — 17
- Basketball — 88
- Cheerleading — 21
- Cross Country — 14
- Football — 22
- Soccer — 31
- Track & Field — 47
- Wrestling — 16
Safe Landings
Diving out of bounds is just one of the risk areas to be aware of in the game of basketball. But you can make your program and your players safer by following this risk management plan...
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Exercise Induced Asthma
Most doctors and nurses are familiar with the diagnosis and treatment of asthma, but much less is known about exercise-induced asthma. As the name suggests, this condition is brought on only by exercise. If your child shows signs of being out of breath even after mild exertion, he should be checked out for exercise-induced asthma.
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Ice Or Heat - "Which Should I Apply?"
Applying cold or heat for conditions involving the muscles or joints has been used for centuries. These temperature applications have been available without a prescription since early man ventured up and over snow-capped mountains and slipped down into soothing natural hot springs. Cold/ice and heat applications are also used today as standard medical treatments throughout the world. However, since they are obviously opposites, when are they best used? And when could they cause problems rather than be helpful?
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