It has been well established that participation in sport has numerous physical and psychological health benefits. In parallel, participation in sport also increases the risk of sustaining a sport-related injury. According to the National Safety Council, 3.2 million people were treated in U.S. Emergency Departments for injuries occurring as a result of sport or recreational activities.
However, the health benefits of physical activity far outweigh the risks (i.e., sustaining an injury). Fortunately, scientists and clinicians have spent decades identifying effective strategies to reduce the risk of injury in sport. For example, implementing the FIFA+ 11 program has been shown to reduce injuries by up to 30%.
While there are strategies that have been shown to be effective at reducing the risk of injuries during sport participation, there is currently no perfect strategy to prevent injuries 100% of the time. This brings us to the elephant in the room: if we can’t prevent all injuries, who is there to keep watch over our kids?
When thinking of appropriate medical care for sport-related injuries, identifying a healthcare professional who has the knowledge and expertise in areas related to injury prevention, emergency care, and injury evaluation and rehabilitation is ideal. Within the United States, this is oftentimes fulfilled by an Athletic Trainer.
Having an Athletic Trainer employed at schools, universities/colleges, and non-sport related settings (e.g., military and occupational settings) optimizes patient care by allowing for onsite healthcare services to be made available. Traditionally, Athletic Trainers have been primarily employed in sport-related settings, which will be the focus here for this particular article.
It is commonplace to have Athletic Trainers employed in universities/colleges to provide healthcare services to the participating collegiate athletes. However, this is not always the case in high school athletics.
A recent article by Huggins and colleagues, examined all 20,272 public and private high schools in the United States to determine whether or not an Athletic Trainer was employed to provide healthcare services to the school’s student athletes. They found that 34% percent of high schools do not provide any healthcare services for their student athletes as they participate in sport. Further, only 34% of high schools had a healthcare provider available on all days of the week when sports were occurring.
The decision of a high school to sponsor an athletics program should be followed by their first hire being that of a healthcare provider. Without a focus and prioritization of health and safety serving as the foundation of all sport-related decisions, society will continue to place children at risk.
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