Health & Safety

Warm-Up Program Cuts ACL Injury Rate In Adolescent Female Soccer Players By Two-Thirds: Study

A 15-minute neuromuscular warm-up program significantly reduced the ACL injury rate in teenage female soccer players, finds a new study. Players who used the program at least once a week also had significant decrease in rates of severe knee injury and other acute knee injuries.

Football Safety: A Properly Fitted Helmet Is Critical

New guidelines have been issued for ensuring that a football helmet fits properly, which a 2012 unpublished research paper found was a simple but effective step in minimizing risk of concussion and catastrophic brain injury.

Preventing Sexual Abuse By Youth Coaches: Criminal Background Checks Not Enough

Protecting youth athletes from becoming victims of sexual predators involves much more than criminal background checks of coaches before they are hired, says a longtime interscholastic sports administrator.

Athletic Trainer Or Team Doctor Should Make Return-to-Play Decision After Concussion

Many of the new youth sports concussion safety laws contain broad language allowing any "qualified health care professional" to make the all-important return-to-play decision after concussion, but, says Marjorie Albohm, MS, ATC, President of the National Athletic Trainer's Association, it is a certified athletic trainer (AT) or team doctor who are best qualified to make that call.

Goals of ACL Surgery: Avoid Arthritic Changes and Need for More Surgery

ACL tears occur in a variety of sports, says Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, and require surgical repair as soon as possible to avoid the arthritic changes associated with a delay in reconstructive surgery and, hopefully, the need for more surgery later. While a failure rate of 20% is not uncommon, the failure rate at Children's is much lower, around 5%.

Role of Sports Medicine Doctor Explained

Sports medicine doctors play an important role in sports injury prevention and treatment, says Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston.

Youth Sports Safety Has Not Kept Pace With Increased Participation, Laments Micheli

While organized youth sports participation has increased exponentially, both in the U.S. and around the world, safety has not kept pace, despite calls for instituting more safety programs, laments Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston.

Sports Are Great For Kids, But Too Much Comes With Risks

The benefits of sports participation are numerous, says Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, including improved physical fitness and opportunities for socialization. Parents should help their child find a sport they enjoy, but too much sports can result in psychological burnout, physical injuries, and turn the child off to physical exercise.

Address Obesity and Physical Fitness Before Child Plays Sports

The time to address issues of such as obesity and lack of physical fitness is before a child begins playing sports, says Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston.

Inadequate Heat Acclimatization A Risk Factor For Heat Illness

Three risk factors for heat illness among athletes, says Lyle Micheli, M.D., Director, Division of Sports Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, are a lack of heat acclimatization (which can take 2 or 3 weeks), a general lack of physical fitness, and obesity.