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With more than 16 million players, soccer is the fastest-growing team sport in the United States. This season, which begins this month for regular-season play, more than 220,000 of those players nationwide will seek emergency room attention for a soccer-related injury, many of which could be easily prevented. “Utilizing preventative methods can vastly reduce, if not completely eliminate, the issue of all sports-related injuries including, baseball, softball, winter sports and even playgrounds,” says Dr. David H. Janda, author of “The Awakening of a Surgeon: A Family Guide to Preventing Sports Injuries and Death” (The Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine, $9.95, www.NoInjury.com). A practicing orthopedic surgeon and injury prevention expert, Janda directs the Institute for Preventative Sports Medicine. His work has been featured in many journals and on numerous national news and talk shows. He offers the free report “7 Questions to Ask the Coach or Trainer to Keep Your Student Athlete Safe” at www.NoInjury.com. Identifying injuries Janda began noticing the dramatic increase of children with soccer-related injuries in the early 1990s. One child in his community sustained thighbone fractures in both legs and suffered from a severe concussion when two friends tipped the goal over on him. The fractures healed; but the head injury resulted in permanent short-term memory loss. Another child playing goalie in Janda’s own community broke her neck when a gust of wind blew the goal over on her. Fortunately she didn’t suffer long-term paralysis, but she did need surgery to stabilize her spine and prevent long-term problems. Janda decided to investigate. He and his research team discovered that goalpost impact was the most common cause of fatal injuries in soccer; they began searching for ways to reduce the force of impact. While conducting the goalpost study, Janda discovered another serious problem in soccer heading drills. “Heading” is a technique used in soccer to advance a ball down the field by hitting it with the forehead. Janda discovered that many children reported having blurred vision or double vision after heading drills. Others reported ringing in the ears or bad head-aches. “All these symptoms are common signs of concussion,” says Janda. “Repeti-tive concussive events can become cumulative and lead to significant problems including loss of memory.” Janda and his team began assessing ways to prevent injuries from the heading drills and then ran across yet another common soccer injury in their clinic. Recreational soccer players began to show up with broken shinbones, still wearing the shin guards they had put on to prevent these injuries. Studies on shin guards showed that while the effectiveness varied considerably between types of shin guards, they still reduced the force of a kick to the leg by 41-77% and thus significantly reduced the risk of injury. Janda noted that like any other type of protective gear, the guards must be applied properly and worn during the play to reduce the risk of injuries. Providing protection To help you protect yourself and your family from potential injury on the soccer field, Janda suggests the following three measures: • Insist on padded goalposts on ALL soccer fields in your community that are stationary with the field surface. • Urge coaches to use a light-mass beach ball instead of a standard soccer ball during heading drills. • Use soccer shin guards at ALL soccer practices and games. “Each sport has potential risks and possible injury,” says Janda, “but we find we can reduce many of those risks through appropriate training, coaching, conditioning and teaching the fundamentals of the sport.” His book presents many other prevention tips for baseball, softball, winter sports, playgrounds, water safety and biking. Don’t side-step soccer safety. Learn how to limit risks and prevent injury so you and your family can enjoy years of fun both on the soccer field and in life. From MarketAbility Staff, FeatureSource For more information, visit www.NoInjury.com |
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