Paula Haddock - HERLIFE Magazine

herlife | mother’s perspectivethe importance ofsafety EQUIPMENT IN SPORTSby kelly jo mcdonnell155,000 Little League baseball players ended up in the emergencyroom last season. My son was one of them. Although he had onhis baseball helmet, when the foul ball rocketed into the dugoutand hit him square in the mouth, it didn’t help much. A trip to theER later, my little-leaguer had a lip contusion and a permanenttooth damaged. He’s in 4th grade.While we know that outdoor play is important to kids, and we asparents relish watching our kids do well on the fields, there’s a loomingstatistic hovering over the fun. Kids suffer around 3.5 million sportsrelatedinjuries annually in the U.S. Although 3 in 4 of these injuries aren’tserious, it’s still a sobering stat nonetheless. It brings to mind questionsfor parents: which sports are responsible for those 3.5 million injuries?Basketball lands more than half a million kids in the ER. “There’s noway to protect the knees,” explained Marifel Mitzi Fernandez, MD at thePrimary Care Sports Medicine Health Partners Clinic in St. Paul, MN. “AndACL injuries happen.” She explains the damage to the anterior cruciateligament (or ACL) is a common injury, and basketball involves twisting,jumping, squatting, making sudden stops, and pivoting—all actions thatput kids at risk. She stressed that taping the ankles and wearing bracescan be helpful. She also said not to forget mouth guards and safetygoggles, especially if your young child is wearing glasses, andnot in contacts yet. Shatterproof goggles are available,and it’s a good idea to check with the coach forideas on best shoes, mouth guards, athletic cups,supporters and padding.Next on the list isn’t one sport per sebut the injury that hovers over two popular sports: concussions. Footballand bicycling top the list for concussive head injuries. 485,669 kidswere sent to the ER for bicycling accidents, versus 418,200 for football.It goes without saying that helmets are a necessity if your child is on abike. Research has shown that wearing a bicycle helmet while bikingcan reduce the risks of head injuries by 85 percent. Dr. Fernandez is abig believer in this education, and became even more passionate whenshe herself was struck by a motor vehicle while biking and sustainedhead injuries. “Always we emphasize the importance of wearing helmets,”explained Fernandez, “I see a lot of bumps and scrapes, but lotsof head injuries in general. With all the research in professional sportsand concussions, wearing helmets isn’t just for football, but for manysports in general, and especially biking.”The American Journal of Sports Medicine confirmed that footballis number one when we tally up sports-related injuries. But it’s a popularone—3 million kids play football at the youth level, and an additional 1.2million play football for their high school team. Most organized-sportsrelatedinjuries, including those sustained playing football, occur duringpractices rather than games—62 percent of them, to be exact. Parentsmust take note of this, and take the same safety precautions during yourchild’s practices as you would for a game. Safetygear for football also includes mouth guards,shoulder pads, athletic supporters, chest/rib pads, forearm, elbow and thigh pads,shin guards, and proper shoes.Other sports to watch22 HERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM