While there has been a recent focus on high school and college football head injuries, not many people realize that other sports can lead to head injuries and traumatic brain injuries in student athletes. Most recently a story on CNN reports on the dangers of concussions and head injuries in school basketball players.
According to a new study published in the medical journal Pediatrics, the number of head injuries received among high school and college basketball players has jumped an alarming 70 percent in just the last ten years. At the same time, the overall number of basketball injuries in those under 20 years of age fell during the same time period.
What does this jump in head injuries mean? Many sports safety experts say that much of the problem has to do with education – coaches, parents, school administrators, and students alike need to understand what a head injury is, what needs to be done when you suffer a head injury, and the serious long-term consequences of not taking concussions seriously.
Researchers also noted that the study only included head injuries that were treated in an emergency room. This means that many more head injuries probably occur than were actually reported and that perhaps more people are going to the emergency room for head injuries from sports than they did a decade before.
All in all, 11 million basketball injuries were reported during the study. Other common basketball injuries included knee injuries, dislocated joints, lacerations, and broken bones.