1000 SW Jackson Suite 230
Topeka, KS 66612-1274
(785) 296-1223
(785) 296-8649 (FAX)

Coordinator:
Jan Stegelman

Executive Committee:
Randall Bolin
NHTSA Region VII

Dennis Cooley, MD
Medical Advisor
American Academy of
Pediatrics, Kansas
Chapter

John Drees
Douglas County
SAFE KIDS Coalition

John Halbran
Kansas Safety Belt
Education Office

Jim Keating
Kansas State
Firefighters Association

Elena Nuss
Kansas State
Fire Marshal's Office

Cindy Samuelson
Kansas Hospital Association

Fall Sports Send 490,000 Kids to Emergency Rooms

Safe Kids Kansas offers fall sports safety tips

Every year, more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and under suffer sports injuries serious enough to require medical treatment. Approximately 490,000 kids each year go to emergency rooms with injuries from fall sports.

Tackles and collisions are not the only hazard. “Strains and repetitive-motion injuries account for nearly half of all sports injuries to students in grades 6 and above,” says Jan Stegelman, Safe Kids Kansas coordinator. Immature bones, insufficient rest after an injury and poor conditioning contribute to these injuries. “Make sure kids do their warm-ups and start the season with a physical checkup.”

Kids are more likely to be injured in a practice or pickup game than in organized competition. “If protective gear is required for a game, it’s required for practice too,” says Stegelman. “Warm up and stay hydrated for practice just as you would for a game.”

In 2004, emergency rooms treated nearly 200,000 children ages 5 to 14 who were injured playing basketball; 194,000 injured playing football; 75,000 injured playing soccer; and 23,500 injured doing gymnastics. These figures do not reflect injuries treated in sports medicine clinics and other non-hospital settings — by some estimates, half of all sports injuries.

In a 2000 survey conducted by Safe Kids Worldwide, 30 percent of parents said their child had been injured at least once while playing a team sport, 15 percent said their child had been injured more than once and about 7 percent said their child suffered a serious injury.

Safe Kids Kansas recommends these precautions for kids playing or practicing any individual or team sport:

• Make sure all protective gear is the right size and properly adjusted.
• Have adult supervision. Make sure responsible adults know and enforce the safety rules of the sport and are trained in first aid and CPR. Also, make sure the field is in safe condition.
• Never “play through” an injury. Get immediate help from a coach or trainer, and be sure to mention everything that hurts or aches.
• Rest often and rehydrate with water or an electrolyte sports drink, even in cool weather. In two hours of activity, kids can lose a quart of fluid by sweating.
• Follow the rules. In most sports, the rules are based on not only sportsmanship, but also safety.

For more information about sports safety visit www.usa.safekids.org.

Safe Kids Kansas, Inc. is a nonprofit Coalition of 67 statewide organizations and businesses dedicated to preventing accidental injuries to Kansas children ages 0-14. Local coalitions and chapters are located in Allen, Anderson, Atchison, Clay, Coffey, Dickinson, Doniphan, Douglas, Ellis, Ford, Franklin, Geary, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Leavenworth, Marion, Meade, Mitchell, Montgomery, Nemaha, Osage, Pottawatomie, Republic, Rice, Riley, Saline, Smith, Shawnee, Wabaunsee, Wilson and Woodson Counties, as well as the cities of Chanute, Emporia, Leavenworth, Norton, Pittsburg, the Wichita Area and the Metro Kansas City Area. Safe Kids Kansas is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide , a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury.