Reducing the risk of ACL injuries

Source: sadlersports.com - Reducing the risk of ACL injuries
Author: John M. Sadler

Is prevention the best medicine?

 

You’d be hard pressed to find any youth soccer, basketball or football team that doesn’t have at least one player with an ACL injury.

The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, stabilizes the knee and is highly susceptible to injury during high impact sports. As the popularity of youth sports continues to grow, so does the number of teen and young ACL injuries. How can this be minimized?

Training for prevention

Young athletes receiving universal neuromuscular training is proving to be an effective deterrent to ACL injuries, according to a recent Columbia University Medical Center study. The training teaches athletes proper bending, jumping, landing and pivoting techniques. The study focused on 10,000 “at-risk” athletes between the ages of 14 and 22. The results showed an average reduction of 63 percent in ACL injuries in those who received universal training.

Screening for ACL weaknesses also helps reduce the number of ligament sprains and tears, but reduced the rate by only 40 percent.

Counting the costs

The estimate to run a universal training program for coaches and players is about $1.25 per day, according to the study researchers. ACL reconstruction can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $17,000.

“According to our model, training was so much less expensive and so much more effective than we anticipated.” said orthopaedic resident Eric F. Swart, the lead author of the study

While preventive training and screening might sound like the best option, screening is a high-cost variable if implemented on a team-wide basis.

Source: “Universal neuromuscular training reduces ACL injury risk in young athletes,” Medical Xpress. 14 Mar. 2014.

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Mother refiles Pop Warner football suit

Source: sadlersports.com - Mother refiles Pop Warner football suit
Author: John M. Sadler

Did coaches violate tackling guidelines?

Additional claims and the inclusion of more defendants are the reasons behind a lawsuit being refiled against Pop Warner. Donnovan Hill, 16, is the subject of a lawsuit that was filed after being hit during a Midget Orange Bowl championship game in 2011. Hill, 13 at the time, was left paralyzed after tackling a running back.

Details of the amended complaint

Hills mother, Crystal Dixon, amended her complaint to include lack of training for coaches and use of a tackling technique banned by the Pop Warner league. The suit names Pop Warner, league affiliates, coaches, and the local Pop Warner board of directors. Lawyers for Dixon say the defendants are liable for instruction in an incorrect tackling technique. Hill and others on the team complained of pain and questioned their coach about the safety of tackling by leading with the head. The plaintiff asserts that coaches ignored the players’ concerns.

Rob Carey of the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro intends to prove that the coaches ignored the coaching guidelines on how players in the league are required to tackle. Carey will provide videotape evidence of Hill’s coaches specifically and repeatedly ordering their players to make hazardous tackles in clear violation of Pop Warner guidelines.

Preventing future incidents

Hill is a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair and the subject of an ESPN video. Dixon’s attorneys suspect that coaches instructing players to use the dangerous head-first technique is widespread. They are seeking maximum damages allowable by law, including punitive damages and hope the case will help put an end to the dangerous practice.

Pop Warner is currently looking to address other safety concerns in youth football. Visit the Sadler Sports blog for youth football injury statistics and other news.

 


 

Source: Matt Coker, “Donnovan Hill Lawsuit Against Pop Warner Football Refiled,” OC Weekly. 11 Mar 2014

Image: JamieL.WilliamsPhoto

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Concussions among middle school girl soccer players

Source: sadlersports.com - Concussions among middle school girl soccer players
Author: John M. Sadler

Why are girls more vulnerable?

Middle school girl soccer players suffer more concussions than girls in high school and college. Researchers say incorrect heading techniques and the young girls’ less developed brains and neck muscles are likely contributors to the rate of concussions.

What’s adding to the problem

A recent study found 59 concussions among 351 girls aged 11 to 14. Participants in the study complained of dizziness, headaches, inability to concentrate and being drowsy. Exacerbating the problem is that many continue to play despite their symptoms, risking a second injury.

Despite the experts advising that players not return to practice or games until symptoms disappear, 58 percent of the players in the study continued to play even with symptoms persisting,  according to the study’s co-author Melissa Schiff, professor of epidemiology.

The same study found that heading the ball was the cause of 30 percent of the players’ concussions and more than 50 percent were the result of player collisions.

Looking to lower the numbers

The rate head injuries among young girls linked to heading the ball doesn’t surprise John Kuluz of Miami Children’s Hospital.

“I see it all the time,” he said. Kuluz’s advice: athletes who have suffered a concussion should avoid heading the ball.

Oddly enough, concussions resulted 23 times more frequently in games than during practice. Should heading the ball be banned to reduce the number of head injuries?  Some suggest that middle school athletes should be taught proper heading technique in practice but prohibit its use in play until high school.

The study was published in the Jan 2014 online issue of JAMA Pediatrics.

More information on concussions and risk management are available on the Sadler Sports Insurance website.

Source: Kathleen Doheny, “Concussions Common in Middle School.”  Healthday. 20 Jan 2014.

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