In two decades of coaching hockey, camp director Stu Gould has seen plenty of concussions. He said the helmet is one part of the sports budget parents shouldn’t skimp on — and not just because he sells $1,400 custom masks of his own.
“It’s your head, for God’s sake,” Gould said.
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, children account for 90 percent of hospital emergency room visits for sports-related concussions. Analysts with HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, found this in the agency’s 2008 emergency department database.
Jennifer Crowley of Lombard has twin 8-year-old sons, Aaron and Patrick, who both play hockey. She said she got them to wear mouth guards by giving them a lecture about concussions.
“I said, ‘They don’t care about your teeth. They care about your head, because if your teeth get knocked together, you can get a concussion,’” she said.
Concussions — brain injuries from a bump, blow or jolt to the head — can occur in any recreational activity, even sports considered non-contact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And complications can occur in both the short-term and long-term, including headaches, dizziness, mood changes and death.
The CDC’s national concussion awareness campaign encourages athletes to report any head injury because all concussions are serious — and not to let themselves, coaches or parents pressure them into returning to the game before they’re ready.
Concussions by sport
The NCAA Injury Surveillance Program reported the rate of concussions for the most injury-prone sports over a five-year period. From 2004 to 2009, for every 1,000 college athletes who took the field during games, the following number suffered a concussion:
Football: 3.1
Men’s lacrosse: 2.6
Men’s ice hockey: 2.4
Women’s ice hockey: 2.2
Women’s soccer: 2.2
Wrestling: 1.4
Men’s soccer: 1.4
Women’s lacrosse:1.2
Field hockey: 1.2
Women’s basketball: 1.2
Men’s basketball: 0.6
Source: 2010-2011 NCAA Sports Medicine Handbook
Read more at: http://specialsections.suntimes.com/home/6990934-554/youth-sports-community-supports-concussion-laws.html
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