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Risky business: The downside of playing sports
| Big Bear varsity football player Hans Hausner gets ice on his thumb during the Bear’s opening game against Grace Brethren on Sept. 9. X-rays later revealed a broken thumb. (KATHY PORTIE/Big Bear Grizzly) |
By JUDI BOWERS
Sutton Burnard, Craig Hall and Hans Hausner added a statistic to their portfolio most wish they could avoid. The Big Bear High School football players are among the millions of high school athletes injured every year.
According to a study funded by the Center for Disease Control and conducted by Children’s Hospital in Ohio in 2005-06, 2 million prep athletes were injured, 500,000 athletic injuries required visits to a physician and 30,000 injuries meant hospitalization. The study was based on data collected from a random sampling of high schools across the country and involved nine sports: baseball, football and wrestling for boys only, softball and volleyball for girls only, and boys and girls basketball and soccer.
Children’s Hospital in Boston did a similar study involving children ages 5 to 14 injured while participating in organized sports. The study showed 3 million injuries with strains and sprains most common.
Hall injured his knee in the Bears’ second game of the season against Aquinas. He had surgery and is in physical therapy. Hausner has a broken thumb and wears a cast. Burnard is home after a week in the hospital following brain surgery. Burnard suffered a massive brain trauma in the varsity football game against San Jacinto on Sept. 26. His football career is over; the others may play again.
Burnard’s injury is rare. Bears coach Dave Griffiths hasn’t experienced an injury this severe in all his years of playing or coaching. But anytime a student participates in sports, it’s a risk, Griffiths said.
Football is ranked one of the most dangerous high school sports along with cheerleading, ice hockey, baseball and soccer. Football has a lower death rate among athletes than hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse and baseball, and is much lower than competitive skiing.
While the numbers may be staggering in regard to how many athletes are injured, overall the percentage is 0.27 of the athletes injured among the 7.2 million who participated.
Sport-related injuries are varied. They range from cramps, strains, sprains, fractures, torn ligaments to head injuries, concussions and even skin cancer. Prior to participating in high school sports, prospective athletes must have a physical exam. Under rules stipulated by CIF, the exam must screen for medical musculoskeletal conditions, along with a variety of routine screenings.
Vic Oberneder of Bear Valley Physical Therapy said the most common sports-related injuries involve shoulders and knees, and are usually ligament related. Oberneder is a certified physical therapist and sees many of the Big Bear High School athletes as they recover from the various injuries incurred on the field of play. Rotator cuff injuries and strains are common, Oberneder said.
Right now, Oberneder said he is seeing more hamstring pulls and groin injuries. He also sees athletes with back and neck strains, but those mostly happen during training, Oberneder said. He said student-athletes will lift too much, especially football players, during conditioning and weight training.
The CIF-Southern Section and state Web sites provide the Sports Medicine Bulletin, which covers all aspects of participating in high school athletics. It includes information on the required physical, a blow to the head sample letter, student emergency procedures and informed consent information. It also includes information on preventing skin cancer and how to prevent injuries to student-athletes who have body piercing.
Big Bear High School has had its share of injured athletes. Softball pitchers with injured arms, high school quarterbacks with injured elbows, broken legs, strained ligaments, broken collarbones and more.
Oberneder said the surprise was the number of soccer players who were injured. He said there were broken arms and even a broken femur.
The types of sports-related injuries also depend on the time of the year, Oberneder said. In winter, he sees snow sport related injuries. But these days instead of wrists, the snowboarders are injuring their shoulders.
According to a study funded by the Center for Disease Control and conducted by Children’s Hospital in Ohio in 2005-06, 2 million prep athletes were injured, 500,000 athletic injuries required visits to a physician and 30,000 injuries meant hospitalization. The study was based on data collected from a random sampling of high schools across the country and involved nine sports: baseball, football and wrestling for boys only, softball and volleyball for girls only, and boys and girls basketball and soccer.
Children’s Hospital in Boston did a similar study involving children ages 5 to 14 injured while participating in organized sports. The study showed 3 million injuries with strains and sprains most common.
Hall injured his knee in the Bears’ second game of the season against Aquinas. He had surgery and is in physical therapy. Hausner has a broken thumb and wears a cast. Burnard is home after a week in the hospital following brain surgery. Burnard suffered a massive brain trauma in the varsity football game against San Jacinto on Sept. 26. His football career is over; the others may play again.
Burnard’s injury is rare. Bears coach Dave Griffiths hasn’t experienced an injury this severe in all his years of playing or coaching. But anytime a student participates in sports, it’s a risk, Griffiths said.
Football is ranked one of the most dangerous high school sports along with cheerleading, ice hockey, baseball and soccer. Football has a lower death rate among athletes than hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse and baseball, and is much lower than competitive skiing.
While the numbers may be staggering in regard to how many athletes are injured, overall the percentage is 0.27 of the athletes injured among the 7.2 million who participated.
Sport-related injuries are varied. They range from cramps, strains, sprains, fractures, torn ligaments to head injuries, concussions and even skin cancer. Prior to participating in high school sports, prospective athletes must have a physical exam. Under rules stipulated by CIF, the exam must screen for medical musculoskeletal conditions, along with a variety of routine screenings.
Vic Oberneder of Bear Valley Physical Therapy said the most common sports-related injuries involve shoulders and knees, and are usually ligament related. Oberneder is a certified physical therapist and sees many of the Big Bear High School athletes as they recover from the various injuries incurred on the field of play. Rotator cuff injuries and strains are common, Oberneder said.
Right now, Oberneder said he is seeing more hamstring pulls and groin injuries. He also sees athletes with back and neck strains, but those mostly happen during training, Oberneder said. He said student-athletes will lift too much, especially football players, during conditioning and weight training.
The CIF-Southern Section and state Web sites provide the Sports Medicine Bulletin, which covers all aspects of participating in high school athletics. It includes information on the required physical, a blow to the head sample letter, student emergency procedures and informed consent information. It also includes information on preventing skin cancer and how to prevent injuries to student-athletes who have body piercing.
Big Bear High School has had its share of injured athletes. Softball pitchers with injured arms, high school quarterbacks with injured elbows, broken legs, strained ligaments, broken collarbones and more.
Oberneder said the surprise was the number of soccer players who were injured. He said there were broken arms and even a broken femur.
The types of sports-related injuries also depend on the time of the year, Oberneder said. In winter, he sees snow sport related injuries. But these days instead of wrists, the snowboarders are injuring their shoulders.
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Shazia wrote on Jan 16, 2009 9:49 AM: