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New survey finds 1.35 million children visit ER each year due to sports injuries

Every 25 seconds, a child athlete is admitted to the emergency room due to a serious sports injury. That adds up to 1.35 million total ER visits each year.

Learn More at SafeKids.org This is according to a new survey published this week from Safe Kids Worldwide, an international non-profit organization aimed at preventing unintentional childhood injury. Researchers used data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission’s National Electronic Injury Surveillance System to complete the survey. Concussions account for 163,000 of the visits, and young athletes (aged 12-15) are suffering concussions just as much as high school athletes. Children have a much harder time recovering from concussions than older athletes. See the full results and find more useful information on the Safe Kids Worldwide website, www.safekids.org. “Concussions can be cumulative over a lifetime,” said Piedmont Orthopaedic Complex neurosurgeon Dr. Kevin Stevenson. “For example, an eighth grader getting multiple concussions could be affected later in life by poor school performance affecting the ability to get into the college or job profession they choose and overall not perform the way that they want to.” Although it is difficult to eliminate the possibility of concussions completely, parents and coaches can take a proactive approach to ensure the best treatment plan should a head injury occur. ImPACT, short for Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing, is a computerized concussion evaluation system now offered at Piedmont Orthopaedic Complex. Piedmont was the first in Central Georgia to offer this testing in December of ‘12 and enables testing for anyone aged 10 and older, including recreational and serious athletes and non-athletes. If you would like to schedule a test for your child, please give us a call at 478.405.2350. ImPACT has proven to be a useful tool in measuring the severity and effects of concussion and determining when it is safe for concussed athletes or individuals to return to sports or activity. Before the season starts, the athlete takes a 20 minute test measuring brain processing such as speed, memory and visual motor skills. Should that athlete experience a concussion, he or she will take the ImPACT test again several times in the days following and the results will be compared to evaluate the severity and effects of the injury. When the neurocognitive brain function has returned to baseline scores, the athlete or individual is considered safe to return to sports or activity. A concussion is any alteration of mental status due to sudden and violent rocking of the brain inside of the skull caused by a traumatic blow to the head or upper body. These symptoms may include amnesia, disorientation, confusion, fogginess, headache, blurred vision, nausea, fatigue and sometimes loss of consciousness. ImPACT, developed over the past decade, today is used by more than 1200 high schools and 300 major colleges and universities nationwide, in addition to numerous professional sports organizations, including the NFL, NHL, NCAA and MLB. Learn more about ImPACT testing.

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New survey finds 1.35 million children visit ER each year due to sports injuries

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