More than 309,000 Sports-Related Head Injuries Treated in ERs in 2005

The normal sounds of a quiet summer afternoon are shattered by the screams of sirens, as a 14-year-old boy lies injured in the street after being struck by the door of a car, his bike a bit worse for the wear -- his head severely injured -- no helmet in sight. Unfortunately, this scenario is all too common. According to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS), the most recent statistics indicate that there were an estimated 64,500 bicycling-related head injuries treated in United States hospital emergency rooms in 2005. Nearly 37,000 of these injuries were to children age 14 and younger. For all sports, there were an estimated 309,000 head injuries treated in the same year.

Between 1984 and 1988, an average of 962 deaths resulted annually from bicycling-related injuries. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) caused 62 percent of all deaths resulting from bicycle accidents. Forty percent of deaths occurred in children age 15 and younger. Clearly, children are at the greatest risk of sustaining these injuries. Boys age 10 to 14 are at the highest risk.

“Bicycle helmets provide measurable protection in terms of both reducing the deceleration experienced by a person’s head and protecting against direct compressive force,” stated Arthur Day, MD, FACS, AANS vice president and director of the Cerebrovascular Center and Neurologic Sports Injury Center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, Mass. “Yet too many children and adults take unnecessary risks and do not wear helmets.”

Overall, sports and recreational activities contribute to about 21 percent of all TBIs among American children and adolescents. A TBI is defined as a blow or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. TBI can result when the head suddenly and violently hits an object, or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue. The term head injury is often used synonymously with TBI, but a head injury may not be associated with neurological deficits, and can refer to a minor bump on the head or be severe enough to cause brain injury.

“Wearing properly fitting safety gear for the sport, whether it is a helmet for bicycling, rollerblading, football, baseball or a host of other sports, is a preventive step that can greatly decrease the risk of suffering a potentially serious or fatal head injury,” added Day. A summer of fun can too quickly turn into a life-shattering tragedy that could have been avoided in so many cases by just taking proper safety precautions.

Helmets and head gear come in many sizes and styles for many sports and must properly fit to provide maximum protection against head injuries. In addition to other safety apparel or gear, helmets or head gear should be worn at all times for:

•Baseball and Softball (when batting)
•Cycling
•Football
•Hockey
•Horseback Riding
•Powered Recreational Vehicles
•Skateboards/Scooters
•Skiing
•Wrestling

Head gear is recommended by many sports safety experts for:

•Martial Arts
•Pole Vaulting
•Soccer

Additional information on sports-related head injury and traumatic brain injury are available from the AANS at: http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/, under Conditions & Treatments. A downloadable, color fact sheet on head injury prevention is available at: http://www.neurosurgerytoday.org/what/patient_safety/head_injury_prevention.pdf.