Health & Safety

In a fact-filled and informative SmartTeams Talk™, a leading expert on gender and concussions reviews the research finding differences in concussion risk and outcomes between female and male athletes, and how MomsTEAM's SmartTeams™ program is designed to increase concussion reporting through education.

In a powerful and frank SmartTeams Talk, a two-time Olympic swimmer and sexual abuse victim talks about the steps required to prevent abuse of athletes by coaches.

The godfather of modern sports medicine injury prevention and treatment, Boston Children's Dr. Lyle Micheli, provides a fascinating overview of the history of sports medicine from ancient Greece to modern times, and says that if there is one population we should try to keep safe and healthy it is youth athletes.

A practicing sports concussion neuropsychologist and leading concussion researcher, Dr. Rosemarie Moser, talks about why it is so important for student-athletes to get cognitive rest after a concussion, what cognitive rest means, and why she urges athletes to "love their brain, love their sport," which means not returning to sports for around 3 weeks after their concussion symptoms are gone.

In their SmartTeams Talks, both Drs. Brian Hainline and Dr. Jim MacDonald said sleep deprivation among youth athletes needs to be addressed to reduce sports injury risk.

A leading researcher on sport specialization says data shows that there is only one sport, gymnastics, in which early intensive training/specialization before the age of 12 is necessary for success at the elite level.

A pediatric sports medicine expert asks parents not to buy into the idea that sport specialization will increase their chances of playing sports in college, to listen to the data linking specialization and increased risk of serious overuse injury, and recommends that kids not play sports more hours per week than their age.

A pediatric sports medicine specialist says that to prevent youth sports injuries we need to "think like Sweden" in setting as a goal zero youth sports injuries; use protective equipment such as properly fitted and maintained helmets, mouthguards, and goggles; and recognize that education is not enough to change the cultural and physical environment of youth sports, but requires active implementation of sports safety best practices at the grass roots level.