Increased Type of Sports Related Injuries in Children

More than a million children are seen in emergency rooms every year with sports-related injuries. Kate Carr is the President and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide. Of particular concern, she says, are concussions.  “Concussions are particularly serious, we are talking about an injury that is internal and they make up 12% of the visits to emergency rooms.” The ages of kids that are suffering concussions are troubling, says Carr.  “The kids who were in the ER because of concussions, we found that 47% of the kids who were there were between the ages of 12 to 15.” Another concern is girls’ knee injuries.  “Girls are eight times more likely to tear their ACL, anterior cruciate ligament, than boys.  That one is kind of a shocker, but it is repeated again and again.” Carr says that there are too many performance-enhancing drugs in sports, all sports.  “Certainly that is in the news and we want to emphasize those performance-enhancing drugs, they should just be out of the game entirely whether it is in professional sports or are team sports for young athletes.” Carr encourages parents to watch their kids’ practice to see what type of contact their kids are involved in at practice and talk to coaches if you have concerns.