General Health & Safety

Researchers have found an association between physical fitness and the brain in 9- and 10-year-old children: Those who are more fit tend to have a bigger hippocampus and perform better on a test of memory than their less-fit peers.

Sports injuries are the result of three factors: age, degree of sport specialization, and training intensity:

September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month.  Here are some suggestions on how parents can help prevent childhood obesity, promote healthy eating and physical activity, and increase awareness of childhood obesity among individuals of all ages and walks of life.

As the U.S. launches its first-ever National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month today, scientists say the problem may be even more widespread than was thought.  Researchers have found that parents tend to underreport their children's weight.  Estimates of obesity and body mass index (BMI) based on parent-supplied data may miss one in five obese children.

U.S. high school athletes suffer an estimated 9,237 time-loss heat illnesses every year that are serious enough to keep them out of sports for one or more days, according to a new, first-of-its kind report from the Centers for Disease and Control and Prevention (CDC), with football players most prone to heat illness.

With spring sports beginning for over 40 million young athletes,  the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) has ten tips for parents, coaches, and administrators to help prevent injuries and ensure a safe and successful season.

For American parents who want their kids to be fit, focused and feeling good, the first step is get them outside, according to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), which has just issued a health report, Whole Child: Developing Mind, Body and Spirit through Outdoor Play as part of the group's Be Out There ™ campaign.

ACL injury prevention programs for female athletes such as the Prevent Injury and Enhance Performance (PEP) program have value, despite lingering doubts about their effectiveness raised in a new study. While there is evidence that injury prevention programs may reduce the risk of some knee injuries, additional research in necessary, said the study author.

Nearly $30 million a year would be saved in hospital charges if early rather than delayed ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) reconstruction surgery was performed on pediatric patients, according to a study presented at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) 2010 Annual Meeting in Providence, Rhode Island.  Additionally, more than 7,300 tears to the meniscus and 7,800 cartilage tears in children could be avoided each year in the U.S. by early ACL surgery.