Subscriber Comments for
High School Sports Injuries

Comments in order of when they were received | (reverse order)

COMMENT 320459	2012-09-15 12:52 PM
Kelsey, It's good to see you addressing this extremely important issue. I urge you and all your readers to do a Google search on "Just Between Us! Santa Barbara" and take a look at the interview with Jodi House's Mark Palmer and Cottage Hospital's Trauma Services Medical Director Dr. Stephen Kaminski on "Student Athlete Brain Injury." (If necessary, click on the "Directory of TV Interviews" to find either of these gentlemen.) I would only add at this point, Kelsey, that your teen-age brains, literally, are not at their "prime" but are still in a developmental stage and are extremely vulnerable to injury by concussion and, most especially, by repeat occurrences of concussion.
COMMENT 320508P	2012-09-15 02:33 PM
Injuries are not necessarily more prevalent, but more often reported now. Research has caught up to experience regarding TBI (traumatic brain injury), mild or severe. It's been extensively written about and researched for several years; see Chris Nowinski. I believe a New York Times sportswriter has been very involved in the issue also. Some info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy
COMMENT 320528	2012-09-15 03:24 PM
Teenage female athletes are more susceptible to tearing the acl (anterior cruciate ligament) in their knees then any other athletes. You see it so often these days with girls who are playing basketball at the high school level.
COMMENT 320532	2012-09-15 03:35 PM
Good subject to address here. I think the issue of wearing the proper safety gear in all sports is essential and should be mandatory. I know there are some sports where there really isn't any protection, but what about tennis? Seems like a pretty safe sport and maybe in the old days of wood rackets it was, but nowadays the ball comes with incredible velocity and one hit in the face could mean a serious eye injury, even blindness. Do the players wear safety glasses? Never that I have seen. That ball is now a serious projectile weapon and no safety gear is required on the courts. You can get safety sun glasses that don't look any different from regular ones. I would like to see the high school players protected, even one eye injury is one too many.
COMMENT 320609	2012-09-15 10:54 PM
Easier access to the Palmer-Kaminski interview I previously mentioned: http://sb-justbetweenus.com/archives/mark-palmer-dr-stephen-kaminski-student-athlete-brain-injury
COMMENT 320621P	2012-09-15 11:37 PM
I wish my son's coach would have been more careful with his pitching arm.... lost it in 11th grade :o(
COMMENT 320628	2012-09-16 06:18 AM
Kids can also get hurt mowing the lawn - crossing the street - or driving a car - riding a bike /skateboard - Just going to IV - Being involved in sports gives kids a large leg up in life - and friends for life - Injuries happen - lets not wrap them in bubble wrap - just say'n
COMMENT 320702P	2012-09-16 09:49 AM
childhood/early adulthood contact sport injuries can lead to a lifetime of pain & misery, lost opportunities for daily physical activity and fun. I had an accidental injury in my early 20's that has led to slow debilitation of one ankle and years of pain. I would not encourage any child of mine to get involved in such "sport" activities. Many other non-threatening activities to get involved in. Sports=Too much risk of losing too much. 628, not buyin your argument.
COMMENT 321065P	2012-09-17 11:06 AM
the football head injury thing is no surprise, repeatedly bashing your skull against hard things will do that to you. as a motorcycle rider, i was instructed that if you crash and your helmet makes contact with the ground, you throw it away. even if you drop your helmet on the ground it can be damaged to the point of needing to be replaced. moto helmets are engineered to lessen the g-forces your brain experiences during an impact, sort of like the crumple zones engineered into cars. football helmets, by design, cannot provide nearly enough shock absorbing to protect your brain. i'm sure everyone who lets their kids play football knows this, it's pretty obvious.
COMMENT 321115	2012-09-17 02:03 PM
065: "football helmets, by design, cannot provide nearly enough shock absorbing to protect your brain. i'm sure everyone who lets their kids play football knows this, it's pretty obvious." I disagree about parents' knowledege of the limitations of football helmets. Many relatives of student athletes have no clue as to the limitations of this so-called protective gear. Additionally, in a struggling economy where athletic departments, like many other institutions, are cutting back on expenses, reconditioned helmets, or old helmets lacking current protective standards, are being used. On top of this, young people, with their notorious assumptions of invulnerability, use the wearing of helmets as a reason to increase the force of their head-butts, thus further endangering themselves and others. And, of course, they are often encouraged in this by coaches, fellow players and, sad to say, some parents. Further: direct head impact is NOT the only cause of concussion. The brain, being fluid inside the skull, can smash against the skull because of a head jerk or shoulder hit. The upshot of this is that in any scholastic athletic contest, a recognized medical professional should be on hand to assess whether a player has sustained a concussion and should be removed for some period of time, from the game. The most dire consequences can occur from multiple intances of concussion.

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