Health & Safety

A Canadian study of minor league hockey found that serious misconceptions existed among players, athletes, coaches and parents when it came to understanding the signs and symptoms of concussion and its treatment. 

The National Wildlife Federation (NWF), more than 200 health, conservation, youth, and other organizations, and 16,300 Americans are urging the new surgeon general, Dr. Regina Benjamin, to make time outdoors a childhood health priority and to promote the benefits to children who engage in regular unstructured outdoor play in their backyards, at local parks, or any green space that offers the opportunity to connect with nature.  NWF is urging parents to take the 2010 Be Out There pledge to spend more time outdoors this year.

Players come and go, but football helmets get passed on to new players, season after season, year after year.  Here's some basic information parents should know about the football helmets their children are wearing.

Labeling a child's head injury a "concussion" may convey the wrong message to parents, athletes and athletic trainers about its seriousness, say the authors of a 2010 Canadian study.

A first aid kit in the car and medicine cabinet are musts for parents with children playing sports.

As part of an ongoing effort to reduce the catastrophic injuries and illnesses in youth sports, the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) convened a summit of an alliance of 29 other leading health care and sports organizations in Sacramento, California to raise awareness about youth sports safety and promote legislation to improve health care for young athletes.

Unless your child has been to physical therapy for an injury before, you may not know what to think or expect as a parent. Here's some advice for parents from a physical therapist to make the rehabilitation process as smooth as possible and keep what's important in perspective.

The benefits of sports for adolescent boys and girls are well known. Less understood are the short- and long-term effects of sports injuries on a teen athlete's psychological and social life. A new study in the Journal of Athletic Training provides some clues and advocates a whole person approach to injury management.

Asthma and exercise-induced asthma (EIA) among athletes are common, but athletic performance need not be hindered if your child takes an active role in controlling the condition and follows good practice and control measures.  Indeed, if your child has asthma, he or she should be encouraged  to exercise as a way to strengthen muscles, improve respiratory health, enhance endurance, and otherwise improve overall well-being. 

 

 

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The ability of kids to heal faster from sports injuries than adults is a mixed blessing with pluses and minuses.  it is important to let an injury fully heal before a child is allowed to return to play; playing hurt increases the risk of future injury and permanent disability.