If you encourage your child and set an example yourself, though, chances are a few sports will spark his or her interest. Fan the flame by taking your child to local sporting events and explaining how different games are played. Then, when the time is right, provide opportunities for your child to try out equipment and play informally with other children.
Sports participation has become a major cause of serious injuries among children and adolescents. It is estimated that approximately three to five million youth are seen annually in hospital emergency rooms for sports injuries, and that another eight million are treated by family physicians for sports injuries. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in 1997 sports injuries to youth age 0-14 in 29 sports cost the U.S. public $49,192,781,832. Each statistic has a name, face, story, and a family that has been impacted. Most sports injuries can be prevented.
Injury is a leading cause of the global burden of disease. Injury can be defined as “any unintentional or intentional damage to the body resulting from acute exposure to thermal, mechanical, electrical, or chemical energy or from the absence of such essentials as heat or oxygen”Injury is the main cause of death and a major cause of ill health and disability in children.The types of injuries that children have are closely linked to their age and stage of development.
A corneal injury may occur when something gets into your eye, for example, when the wind blows a dried leaf particle into your eye or when paint chips fall into your eye while you are scraping off old paint. This material may scratch the cornea.In addition to causing corneal injury, high-speed particles may penetrate your eye and injure deeper structures.Broken teeth, swollen jaw or cheekbone, eye injuries from being punched or slapped in the face is not uncommon.
Flying pieces of wood, metal, glass, stone and other material are notorious for causing much of the eye trauma. Blunt injury by fist (during a drunken brawl), ball (cricket ball, lawn tennis ball), shuttle cock (from Badminton) and other high speed flying objects can strike the eye.To avoid eye injuries, you should wear protective eyewear while participating in certain sports, such as racquetball
Basketball, baseball, soccer, paintball – it’s all fun and games until someone gets an elbow, ball or paint pellet in the eye.The growing popularity of paintball opens up a realm of injuries beyond those that affect participants in traditional sports. Paint pellets, which are about the size of a dime and are fired at high rates of speed, can cause abrasions or bleeding inside the eye, as well as cataract formation. The impact also can cause retinal detachments and lacerations of the entire eye, leading to some vision loss.
"They may just have a bruise around the eye, but they may also have a bleed inside the eye, a retinal detachment or damage to the lens in the eye. It’s very important to seek medical advice, especially with an ophthalmologist.”experts suggested.
Most eye injuries in paintball occur when people are not using protective eyewear. When participating in paintball use protective eyewear at all times to reduce the risk of injury. But, if you sustain an injury to the eye while playing any sport, seek medical attention to rule out severe damage.
Injury is a serious public health problem in all over, with the greatest burden on the young, the older people, and those living in the most deprived circumstances. However, it is largely unappreciated as a significant public health problem. Injuries are not inevitable - they can be prevented or controlled. The causes of injury are multi-faceted and inter-related, thus calling for wide-ranging policy solutions.
Each year in the United States, about 40,000 people -- a third of them children -- suffer sports-related eye injuries that could be prevented by wearing appropriate, sport-specific protective eyewear that's been properly fitted by an eye-care specialist, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
"Athletes need to choose to use protective eyewear, because eye injuries can be devastating," Dr. Monica L. Monica, clinical correspondent for the AAO, said in a prepared statement. The group has designated April as "Sports Eye Safety Month."
"Eye injuries are one of the leading causes of visual impairment in children. The injuries range from abrasions of the cornea and bruises of the lids to internal eye injuries, such as retinal detachments and internal bleeding. Unfortunately, some of these young athletes end up with permanent vision loss and blindness," Monica said.
Many children's sports leagues don't require athletes to use protective eyewear, so parents must insist that their children wear eye protection.
"Parents also can set a good example by wearing eye protection when playing sports and work to help pass local ordinances requiring children to wear protective eyewear when engaging in sports," Monica said.
Adult and child athletes can choose from a variety of lightweight and sturdy protective eyewear that doesn't hinder performance, said Dr. M. Bowes Hamill, associate professor of ophthalmology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and clinical correspondent for the AAO.
Lenses in protective eyewear should be made of polycarbonate, which can withstand impact from a ball or other projectile traveling at up to 90 miles an hour.
"Contact lenses offer no protection, and street glasses are inadequate to protect against any type of eye injury," Hamill said.
If you do suffer an eye injury, seek immediate medical attention, he added.
Legislation was found to be effective in increasing rates of helmet wearing and was associated with reductions in head injuries. Four of the studies reported on whether legislation affected the levels of cycling (exposure).In one Australian study, estimated cycling exposure for teenagers decreased by 44%, a considerable reduction in activity, suggesting that compulsory wearing of helmets may discourage some bicycle use. This point is of particular importance given current concerns over low levels of physical activity among young people.
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