These Sports Are Most Likely To Send Kids To The ER With Brain Injuries

CNN) — Almost 2 million children and teens — an average of 283,000 each year — were seen in emergency rooms across the United States for traumatic brain injuries between 2010 and 2016, according to a new government report. Football, bicycling, basketball, playground activities and soccer were the sports and activities most likely to send children to emergency rooms for TBIs, according to the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Traumatic brain injuries, which include concussions, are caused by impacts to the head or the body. The issue has become more pressing as youth sports have grown in popularity and because research has shown that repeated blows to the head, such as from playing football or heading a soccer ball, can lead to long-term physical, emotional and cognitive consequences in children and teens. Children’s developing nervous systems and thinner cranial bones are thought to put them at higher risk for traumatic brain injuries and their consequences. Overall, the rates of TBIs in children have leveled off since 2012, but boys continue to receive them at twice the rate girls do, according to the new report. TBIs also increased with age, with children between 10 and 17 having the highest rates. Both factors, the authors say, are probably explained by boys and older kids participating in contact sports more often than girls and younger kids. Contact sports such as footbal...
Source: WBZ-TV - Breaking News, Weather and Sports for Boston, Worcester and New Hampshire - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health News CNN Concussions Source Type: news