Sports Related Concussions

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Participation in Athletic Sports Outweigh The Potential of Sustaining a Concussion Sports play an immense role in the lives of youth, whether they play with friends for fun or in team competition as student athletes. Regular physical activity helps build and maintain healthy bones and muscles, helps reduce the risk of developing obesity, and promotes psychological well-being. (U.S. Dept.) Public health programs promote the benefits of physical activity, but those benefits are reduced by the possibility of injury. (CDC,2) The information provided will show that although there is a risk of injury, the participation in athletic sports outweighs the potential of sustaining a concussion.
There are many benefits to participating in physical activity.
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Concussions overall within younger groups are sport-related. (Browne) Team and contact sports such as football and soccer have the highest incidence of concussion in ages 4-19, followed by bicycling, playground incidents and baseball. (CDC) Bakhos, Lockhar, Myers and Linakis prepared a study which showed that from “2001 to 2005, US children aged 8 to 19 had an estimated 502,000 emergency department visits for concussion; that ages 8 to 13 accounted for 35% of those visits; and that approximately half of all emergency room visits were sports related concussions”. (1) “The 8 – 13 year old group sustained 40%, which represented 58% of all concussions in this group”. (1) Football accounts for 49% or all reported sports concussions. (Bakhos,Table 2) After football, basketball, soccer, baseball and ice hockey pose the most significant head health risk. (Table …show more content…
It is also a reality that obesity and low bone density from lack of physical activity are a real concern as well. We have a growing number of kids who rarely see real sunlight, play obscene amounts of video games and watch an incredible amount of television every day. Childhood obesity is a national epidemic. Nearly 1 in 3 children (ages 2-19) in the United States is overweight or obese, putting them at risk for serious health problems. Many of these same kids are getting diagnosed with diseases that at one time were only seen in adults. Some of these diseases include diabetes, cancer, thyroid disease and countless others. Physical activity is a proven means of helping to prevent these types of horrors from happening to our kids. Participating in a sport in school is a real means of getting our kids the activity that is lacking in our kids lives in this modern era. It also helps a lot in helping our kids to put down their electronic devices and having to socialize the old-fashioned way,