If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, then you must read on.
Chiropractors know that our patients may suffer musculoskeletal and orofacial injuries in participating in sports. Fortunately, most of these injuries are preventable or are minimized with education, protective gear, or immediate treatment. Unfortunately, too many of these injuries are suffered by children.
Here are some interesting facts about children and sports:
- There are about 23-27 million children of school age that engage in sports world wide.
- Most of these children also engage in sports activities outside of school.
- Boys outnumber girls in sports by a 3:1 margin (this number varies considerably depending upon the customs and bylaws of each community).
- Boys are injured much more often than girls, by a ratio of almost 2:1 (this number also varies).
- There are more injuries incurred in team sports, and those injuries are more severe than occur in individual sports.
- Most injuries occur during practice.
- More injuries are likely to occur in unorganized sports than in organized events.
- Protective gear greatly reduces the likelihood and severity of sports injuries.
Most chiropractors are surprised to find out that trainers and coaches are often poorly trained in the prevention and proper management of sports-related injuries. Here's where you and your local dentist come in.
Chiropractors are more likely to be involved in some aspect of sports-related care than their dental counterparts. As a consequence, chiropractors are naturally prepared to provide trauma and injury prevention instruction to all levels of sports participants. For example, since health care personnel are often not present at practices and sporting events in the schools or other organized sports, information on how to recognize and properly respond to sports-related injury is of keen importance.
Specifically, the two most common categories of injury are musculoskeletal and orofacial. Hence, the chiropractor can take a lead role and unite with a local dentist to educate patients, trainers and coaches to prevent and properly handle sports-related injuries.
What You Need to Do to Get Started
Task #1: Reacquaint yourself with the common age-specific and sport-specific injuries. How can you do this? The chiropractor has many choices. There are numerous excellent postgraduate courses in sports injury. Simply contact the postgraduate department of your local chiropractic college, or read through Dynamic Chiropractic or ChiroAccess (http://query.chiroaccess.com) for available postgraduate courses. I have also included a list of articles that can cover the subject of sports injury quite well.Task #2: Find a dentist who is skilled in sports-related orofacial injuries. This can be accomplished by calling your local dental society. If this does not work out very well, contact the Orange County Dental Society of California (714-634-8944) and ask for assistance in finding dentists who have taken their Head Trauma and Injury Prevention for Coaches seminar.
Children and Sports Injuries
These articles can be ordered through your library or by using the LACC library at (562) 947-8755. Make sure to ask for the librarian.Helms PJ. Sports injuries in children: should we be concerned? Arch Dis Child 1997 Aug;77(2):161-163.
Sorensen L, Larsen SE, Rock ND. The epidemiology of sports injuries in school-aged children. Scand J Med Sci Sports 1996 Oct;6(5):281-286.
Watkins J, Peabody P. Sports injuries in children and adolescents treated at a sports injury clinic. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1996 Mar;36(1):43-48.
Micheli LJ. Sports injuries in children and adolescents. Questions and controversies. Clin Sports Med 1995 Jul;14(3):727-745. Buckley SL. Sports injuries in children. Curr Opin Pediatr 1994 Feb;6(1):80-84.
Griffin LY. Common sports injuries of the foot and ankle seen in children and adolescents. Orthop Clin North Am 1994 Jan;25(1):83-93.
Ehrlich MG, Hulstyn M, D'Amato C. Sports injuries in children and the clumsy child. Pediatr Clin North Am 1992 Jun;39(3):433-449.
Backx FJ, Erich WB, Kemper AB, Verbeek AL. Sports injuries in school-aged children. An epidemiologic study. Am J Sports Med 1989 Mar;17(2):234-240.
Stanitski CL. Management of sports injuries in children and adolescents. Orthop Clin North Am 1988 Oct;19(4):689-698.
Adults/Young Adults and Sports Injuries
These articles can also be ordered through your library or by using the LACC library at (562) 947-8755. Please ask for the librarian.Twellaar M, Verstappen FT, Huson A, Van Mechelen W. Physical characteristics as risk factors for sports injuries: a four year prospective study. Int J Sports Med 1997 Jan;18(1):66-71.
Van Mechelen W, Twisk J, Molendijk A, Blom B, Snel J, Kemper HC. Subject-related risk factors for sports injuries: a 1-yr prospective study in young adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 1996 Sep;28(9):1171-1179.
Ytterstad B. The Harstad injury prevention study: the epidemiology of sports injuries. An 8 year study. Br J Sports Med 1996 Mar;30(1):64-68.
Watson AW. Sports injuries in footballers related to defects of posture and body mechanics. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 1995 Dec;35(4):289-294.
Kallinen M, Markku A. Aging, physical activity and sports injuries. An overview of common sports injuries in the elderly. Sports Med 1995 Jul;20(1):41-52.
Almekinders LC, Almekinders SV. Outcome in the treatment of chronic overuse sports injuries: a retrospective study. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 1994 Mar;19(3):157-161.
Saxena A. Unusual foot pathologies mimicking common sports injuries. J Foot Ankle Surg 1993 Jan;32(1):53-59.
Grove JR, Hanrahan SJ, Stewart RM. Attributions for rapid or slow recovery from sports injuries. Can J Sport Sci 1990 Jun;15(2):107-114.
Micheli LJ. Common painful sports injuries: assessment and treatment. Clin J Pain 1989;5 Suppl 2:S51-S59.
Meeuwisse WH, Fowler PJ. Frequency and predictability of sports injuries in intercollegiate athletes. Can J Sport Sci 1988 Mar;13(1):35-42.
Kannus P, Niittymaki S, Jarvinen M. Sports injuries in women: a one-year prospective follow-up study at an outpatient sports clinic. Br J Sports Med 1987 Mar;21(1):37-39.
McKeag DB. Preseason physical examination for the prevention of sports injuries. Sports Med 1985 Nov;2(6):413-431.
Long JP. Rehabilitation and return to activity after sports injuries. Prim Care 1984 Mar;11(1):137-150.
Clarke KS. The use of vernacular for sports injuries. J Am Coll Health Assoc 1967 Apr;15(4):312-317.
Darryl Curl, DDS, DC
Norco, California
