Which high school sports pose the highest risk of severe injury? Football leads the list, slightly more than wrestling and more than twice the rate in girls' basketball and girls' soccer. The safest of the nine studied? Girls volleyball.
While skin infections, including MRSA, are reported most often in sports with frequent physical contact, skin contact or activities that may lead to the spread of MRSA skin infections may take place before or after participation in a sport with little physical contact. Therefore, anyone participating in organized or recreational sports should be
aware of the signs of possible skin infections and follow prevention
measures.
Dr. Robert Cantu says that while there is debate about the importance
of grading concussions, he sees value, especially where an athlete has
suffered multiple concussions and where the grading is done after the
signs and symptoms have cleared.
While concussions share certain characteristics, every concussion is
unique to that particular individual, says Dr. Robert Cantu, and requires individualized management.
Dr. Robert Cantu says it is extremely important that parents and athletes recognize the signs and symptoms of a concussion.
Not only do athletes need to self-report symptoms, says Dr. Cantu, but
they should let the coaching and medical staff know if a teammate is experiencing symptoms. It just might save his life.
Because of the risk to youth and high school athletes of suffering a
second potentially fatal brain injury before the brain has healed from
the initial injury - a condition called second impact syndrome - Dr.
Cantu advises against allowing such athletes to return to play in the
same game or practice after experiencing post-concussion signs or
symptoms.
Second-impact
syndrome occurs when a high school athlete who sustains a head injury -
often a concussion or worse injury, such as a cerebral contusion
(bruised brain) - sustains a second head injury before symptoms
associated with the first injury have cleared. The condition, while
rare, causes a sharp increase in intracranial pressure that is almost
always fatal, says Dr. Robert Cantu.
If an athlete has been sidelined by a concussion for several weeks or
longer, Dr. Robert Cantu recommends that he follow a "stepwise"
approach to return to play.