Children's Sports Injuries

As parents we want our children to experience good health, team camaraderie, discipline, and all the things that come with participating in athletics. Some of us have concerns about the overall safety of these sports. I have known many parents who refused to allow their sons to play sports such as football because of the serious types of injury associated with this sport. In fact, according to information from the American Orthopedic Association, football tops the list in numbers of injuries in both organized and unorganized events. My own children have suffered broken toes from gymnastic moves, broken ribs from overzealous wrestling partners, and bad knees from running in improper shoes. During one summer's summer camp experience I had the pleasure of the emergency medical technician who had been hired by the camp to call me and tell me that "even though he had a sling on his arm, he was okay, maybe just a little sore." He was referring to my son who had complained about his arm hurting after a fall during a basketball game. Thank goodness I knew better that to take this persons word for it. I felt like asking him if he had x-ray vision! Well, you may have guessed that, yes, my son's arm was broken. These injuries, however, are still quite minor compared to what can happen.

There are more injuries sustained from unorganized activities (the kids in the neighborhood playing football at the park as opposed to playing football for the local little league). Children's sports injuries can be especially bad because their bodies are not yet completely formed. Also, the choice of "getting back in the game" before the injury has had enough time to heal properly is a serious mistake. Children's bodies need to be given the proper amount of time to heal to prevent future injuries and serious disorders.

While reportedly the most often injured body parts are ankles and hands, the real seriousness of head and neck injuries makes them a prime area for concern for parents and coaching professionals. Another very important area to be kept on top of is overheating of the body. This can be life threatening!

The responsibility of the parent here is to be sure that coaches are acting responsibly and parents should start pushing to be sure that coaches are trained in first aid and CPR. Parents also must stress the importance to the child of wearing proper protective equipment. Children should be taught from early on that it is important to "pre-condition" their bodies - by this, I mean to stretch and warm-up before any athletic activity, just the way the "Pros" do!

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