I read an interesting article in TIME (Jan. 19th) : Is Cheering Safe? I thought it was worth sharing.
Over the years, I have been hearing lots about kids and sports injuries: head injuries (e.g., from soccer) and the notorious ACL knee injuries (e.g field hockey, etc.) but this article was different. It focused on the issue of inadequate safety precautions --- and it is this that I thought was useful to know and share. Apparently cheerleading injuries are up. For instance, in 1980 there were 4,954 ER visits because of cheerleading. In 2007 this jumped to 26,786! That's a big jump (no pun intended!). Also according to the article 2/3 of all injuries occur in the cheerleading category (which is just 1 of only 10 sports categorized) -- so that is quite a bit of injuries for just one sport.
Since 2006, NCAA has required college cheerleading coaches to have "safety certifications" and since 2004, high school coach safety programs have been developed, but only 12 states require it. Why wouldn't all of them require it?? The tragic cases noted in the TIME article point that if the coaches had had the training and there was a policy in place for handling injuries, some of the injuries (and deaths) could have been prevented.
The article points that an emergency plan needs to be in place so kids & coaches know when to call 911. In any cases, everyone needs to know what signs and situations to be aware of regarding sports injuries - e.g, if a child has a concussion, the child should not to play in the sport again for at least 1 week (many play later the same day! and risk death as a result).
Armed with some of this information, I will now take note of the safety plans of my daugthers' sports activities. I don't really know what safety signs to be on the lookout for -- seems like a class for parents and kids would be good before the start of seasonal sports activities. It could be voluntary. One related article I read said many kids didn't even know they had a concussion - they didn't know the signs.
Any thoughts? Suggestions?
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http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1873131,00.html Here is the one article I couldn't find the other night. It too was in TIME: Hard Knocks (Sean Gregory, Feb. 2, 09). It had a good resource of things to watch out for with concusions & some good links to see for more info (www.sportslegacy.org and cdc.gov).
Basically, like the cheerleading piece, there is a demand for athletic trainer certification for kids' sports. Being armed with informaiton, though, is still priceless!
According to the article there is a high percentage of postconcussion rush (that is getting back on the field to play too early): One that surprised me is baseball --- 55.6% of young athletes return to play too soon. Next up volleyball. Soccer and footbal were right up there too.
Just thought some might like the info and the links. - Reb
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