Children's Health
Playing sports can help your children be healthy and happy, and being involved in organized athletics can teach your kids tolerance, self-discipline, and hard work. Playing sports can be very dangerous, however, if you don’t follow safety precautions. Millions of pediatric bone fractures, dislocations, and muscle injuries are treated each year as a result of recreational activities. How can you keep your children safe while letting them enjoy athletics?
One easy way to help ensure your kids’ safety is to provide them with the right equipment and protective gear. If children aren’t properly dressed, they may be distracted by ill-fitting clothing or faulty equipment instead of playing their best. With the proper equipment and protective gear, they’ll be able to keep their minds on the game.
Body Guards
Here’s what your kids should be wearing to help prevent unnecessary injuries.
- Helmets—Whether your children are riding bikes, or taking hits in a football game, a helmet is the best defense against head injuries.
- Mouth guards—Protection for your child’s mouth, teeth, and tongue is very important in all sports. A mouth guard can be purchased at most sports stores or can be custom made by your dentist.
- Eye protection—Getting hit in the eye by another player or a sharp object can damage your child’s vision. Snug-fitting protective goggles will shield his or her eyes from a stray ball or swinging elbow.
- Pads—Football and hockey pads are essential for protecting the body from excessive bruising and joint fractures.
- Footwear—Don’t forget the importance of proper footwear is important too. Choose footwear appropriate for the sports your kids play. Never allow them wear flip-flops or play barefoot.
| Stay in the Game
Although it’s important for players to wear the right equipment and protective gear during athletic activities, there’s another essential element in playing safely: stretching. Before stretching, have your children do at least 15 minutes of warm-ups like jogging or walking to loosen up cold muscles. After warming up, have them begin slow and controlled stretches. This gradual stretching prepares the body for more strenuous activity and protects against wear and tear on joints and muscles. Stretching also conditions and lengthens muscles while increasing blood flow. When children participate in athletics without stretching, they’ll be less likely to move and respond quickly. By allowing your children out on the playing field without warming up, you may put them at greater risk of injury. Stretching is an easy and effective way to keep your kids in the game. |
Sources: www.aaos.org, www.safekids.org, www.nyssf.org, www.kidshealth.org, www.nlm.nih.gov, sportssafety.org
DID YOU KNOW?
For more information on keeping your children safe, visit www.safekids.org.
Sports activities are the second most frequent cause of injury for both male and female adolescents, according to the National Youth Sports Safety Foundation.
In a study of 2,000 teens and pre-teens involved in sports, 16 percent of emergency room visits and 20 percent of hospitalizations are related to either improper use of equipment or poor field or surface conditions.
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