On Average a Child are Hurt in Athletics Every 25 Seconds – Article 297

Our Hartford injury lawyers know that coaches, schools and professional clubs and organizations need to make sure that kids play safely when they participate in sports. It can be easy for coaches to get carried away with the game, but they need to remember that kids are just kids and that they need to be properly supervised and avoid high-risk situations that could result in serious injury.

Sports Can Create High Risks for Kids

The new study was conducted by Safe Kids Worldwide and demonstrated just how common sporting injuries are for children. According to the study:

• Approximately 1.35 million emergency room visits each year occur as a result of severe sports injuries.
• The most common reason for emergency room visits related to sports were strains and sprains. These injuries were followed by bruises, fractures and scrapes.
• Severe sports injuries account for approximately 20 percent of all injury-related visits to the emergency room that are made by children and adolescents.
• A child gets hurt while playing sports an average of once every 25 seconds in the United States.
• A total of 163,000 of the emergency room visits occur each year because of concussions. This means that 12 percent of the total sports-related visits to the emergency room resulted from head injuries. It also means that a child gets a concussion about once every three minutes.

These injuries can have serious lifelong consequences. Concussions, especially, can have a dramatic and lasting impact on a child’s life.  Traumatic brain injury has been linked to health issues such as dementia and new studies have also suggested that a blow to the head could increase the risk of ischemic stroke.

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Child Sports Injury