Sports Injury Research Paper

According to www.alfiekohn.org, “More than 3.5 million children ages 14 and under get hurt annually playing sports.” With so many children getting hurt, it is no wonder why some parents do not allow their children to play. But some parents, according to the article, Listening to Wisdom from an 10 year-old Boy”, …kids who played through pain and got seriously hurt.” Many kids refuse that sports can be dangerous for them, but they can. Also from the same article, the same boy says, “I only have one brain and I do not want to hurt it playing football.” Some children, however realize the

According to the National Federation of State High School Associations studying in California, “1.5 million preadolescent and adolescent boys participate in high school football” (qtd. “Injuries”). That is a lot of students at risk for injury while playing high school sports. In the two seasons of high school football seasons observed in California, “players sustained 25.5 injuries per 100 players” (“Injuries”). With all those injuries, students are likely out of the game and are possibly hampered in other parts of their life, adjusting to their injury. With these injuries on young bodies, they can cause many problems in the future. The issue of injuries to students participating in high school sports cannot be ignored.

Athletics play an immense role in the lives of youth, whether they play with friends for fun or in team competition as student athletes. Regular physical activity helps build and maintain bone and muscle health, helps reduce the risk of developing obesity, and promotes psychological well-being (U.S. Dept.). Public health programs promote the benefits of physical activity, but those benefits are reduced by the possibility of injury (CDC, 2). The participation in athletic sports outweigh the potential of sustaining a concussion.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently reported that more than 2 million children are treated each year for sports- and recreation-related injuries. Sports participation provides many benefits for younger athletes, but unfortunately, injuries do occur. This means doctors have to treat these injuries differently than they do for adults.

With youth sports competitive rate increasing, the amount of injuries is increasing right along with it. Youth sports are taken to an all new level in today’s society. Most sports are played to win and not for fun now a days. This country would be improve tremendously if youth sports would just be played the sports for fun, not be punished for doing the wrong thing and pushed to where injury comes into play.

Young children having major physical injuries while participating in sports should be of more concern. In the article High School Football Comes With a Risk, by Jeffrey Perkel it states that, “...boys aged 10 to 14 we’re most likely to end up in the nation’s emergency departments with a traumatic brain injury…,” This shows how adolescents are unnecessarily hurting themselves because of these sports. Expectedly, during the 2005-2006 US high school football season an , estimate of 517, 726 injuries were submitted to the RIO. Even my own personal experiences with sports all ended in tragic faults. Swimming with

A Worldwide survey of emergency room visits shows that about every 25 seconds, a young athlete visits a hospital emergency room from a sports-related injury (Loehrke and Healy, USA TODAY). Occasional bumps and bruises are expected when kids play sports, but when almost 1.4 million kids are injured and sent to hospitals its catches someone’s eye. Sprains, strains, fractures, contusions, abrasions, and concussions all top the list of ER diagnoses for kids age 6-19. That’s averaging a cost of up to 935 million a year. Many believe these are preventable (Carr, Safe Kids).

Sports is part of people’s everyday lives, people even make money off of sports, but how would you like if i told you they are dangerous. You probably would think that is obvious. So why would you have your kid participate in sports that induce pain? Did you know one-third of kids experience sports-related injury? That information was given to me by Stanford. Another piece of evidence is from, Listening To Wisdom From A 10-Year-Old Son About His Head Injury, “ Daddy I’m scared, I only have one brain and I don’t want to waste it playing football.” (Cohen 1) Would you like your child to be frightened like this one? The last thing you want is for your child to have more fears.

The first way to prevent injuries is to communicate. Most kids play more than one sport so their muscles get injured easier. Some kids don't tell their parents their hurt because they want to empress them and their coaches. The parents need to talk to them to open up. You need to communicate often.

Throughout the states, questions and doubts about players safety have arisen. Despite the worries, statistics show the amount of injuries are not abundant enough to call out football as “Too Dangerous”. According to the study, published in the August 2007 issue of The American Journal of Sports Medicine, four out of every 1,000 high school football exposures resulted in an injury. The most common injuries were knee and or ankle related, stating also how the position in which most of these injuries occur were to running backs and to linebackers. “While football does have a high rate of injuries, injuries don’t have to be just part of the game,” said Christy Collins, MA, research associate in CIRP at Children’s Hospital and co-author of the study. “There are ways to reduce the number and severity of football injuries

Many children enjoy sports more than life itself. To love a sports with that amount of significance is not a horrible thing, but to love oneself should be the first priority in life. Especially adolescents who play the sport with lots of passion and emotion by imitating their favorite athletes to fight an injury so they would be able to continue their action. The youth as a whole need to realize that injuries are capable of affecting people’s lives around them. For example, hiding any joint problems gives an increase chance of arthritis at a younger age. Sport injuries at a young age can lead to a serious case of no or rare physical activity for the rest of their life (Schnedier 1). Concussions are one of the most serious injuries that athletes should be aware of and how to continue. Athletes like Chris Coyne fight concussions to play, but fighting a severe headache, dizziness and nausea can hurt a team more if something very serious would have happened to effect a teammate’s life.

Youth sports are a regular part of any parent's life, over time, the more talented kids emerge and are picked for travel teams or special training. Travel teams usually come with year long commitments forcing children to quit their other sports. Although when you think of a sport related injury you usually think of kids colliding, or falling and banging their head, although, more than 50% of sport related injuries are overuse injuries. Most overuse injuries occur when a young athlete focuses on one sport, playing it year round. This puts stress on the same muscle all year, instead of just for one season. An athlete that plays multiple sports exercises multiple muscles, giving other muscles a break. Without giving other muscles a break, the one muscle becomes tired and weak, and eventually snaps. Youth sports are a highlight of childhood, but the risk of injury has rapidly increased due to

According to “SCOPE-Sports in schools” It states that Overuse injuries account for nearly half of all sports injuries to middle and high school students. Young teens are being pushed harder than they have ever been before, statistics show that by the time children are 16 their bodys are already experiencing some major malfunctions due to overuse injuries. A cli from “Overuse of young athletes- 60 minutes” states that because children are doing the same sport all year and pushing their limits, they are wearing away their bodies even faster. This is very unhealthy for young children especially because when the children work hard you can tell and now a days 6 and 7 year olds are playing like 12 and 13 year olds and pushing all of their

Athletes should be playing a sport for the love of that sport not because they are trying to hurt people while trying to be the best. Some people think that most injuries are just freak accidents that can’t be avoided. Injuries in sports is a big deal because it can cause permanent damage to someone else or even yourself ending one's career, and could cause people to go to therapy for what they have done to someone. Having the proper gear and teams with good sportsmanship and without revenge can all be factors to decrease injuries.

Superstar Athletics will promote and grow strong professional relationships throughout the local school systems, youth sporting organizations, and within the medical community to not only build up our clientele base, but also be able to provide a collaborative care system if a client needs to be referred out to a trusted source for further medical attention. Referral sources will include but not be limited to local coaches, athletic trainers, parents, and when appropriate pediatricians. As Southshore Rehabilitation and Athletic Performance Center operates under direct access, recommendations may also come from in-house OT’s and PT’s who deem a youth athlete is more appropriate for the wellness/injury prevention program. We will also build a repertoire with neighboring counties and school systems for further referrals for our unique program catering to youth athletes.