14 DAY TRIAL // A national study found that there is a 70 percent increase of basketball-related traumatic brain injuries, and between 1997 and 2007, over 4 million pediatric and adolescent basketball-related injuries were treated in emergency departments.
The Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Ohio, US, carried out a study that looked at basketball-related injuries among children and adolescents between the ages of 5 and 19 from 1997 to 2007, treated in the emergency departments.
The problem is that in basketball-related injuries, was a 70 percent rise of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) over the study period.
Study co-author, Lara McKenzie PhD, principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital says that “we found a dramatic increase in the number of basketball-related TBIs over the 11-year study period.”
“In addition, the proportion of TBIs doubled for boys and tripled for girls during this time and many athletes do not recognize the symptoms of concussions or do not report them to coaches and trainers.
“Educating athletes, coaches and parents to recognize and report on suspected concussions is vital to managing them effectively and helping to prevent future injuries.”
The most common injuries were sprains and strains to the lower extremities (30 percent), especially the ankle (24 percent), and fractures or dislocations to the upper extremities (15 percent), specifically to the finger (8 percent), according to the study.
Teens from 15 to 19 were more likely to have strains and sprains and cuts, and kids between 5 and 10 were more likely to be suffer from a TBI than athletes aged 11 to 19 years.
Also, boys were more likely to sustain cuts, fractures and dislocations, while TBIs and knee injuries were more common among girls.
Dr. McKenzie, a faculty member of The Ohio State University College of Medicine said that basketball is a very popular game and children should be encouraged to play it, but they should use equipment that is appropriate for their age in order to avoid concussions and finger-related injuries.
Over 4 million basketball-related injuries were treated during the 11 years study period and even if the number of injuries decreased over time, the average number of injuries a year – 375,350, is still too high, concluded the authors.
All data for this study were collected from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), under the control of the US Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Findings from the study are released online September 13 and appear in the October 2010 issue of Pediatrics.