Basketball injuries are down overall among teens and children, but head injuries are up

There’s good news about basketball injuries among children and teens: generally, injuries decreased from 1997 to 2007. But the number of traumatic brain injuries soared.

Data on about 4.1 million basketball-related injures treated in emergency rooms were examined by researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and Ohio State University. Rates went from a high of just over 400,000 per year between 2001 and 2002 to just over 300,000 per year in 2007.

The most common injuries found in the study, released recently in the journal Pediatrics, were strains and sprains, followed by fractures and dislocations. Older teens age 15 to 19 were more likely than younger children to suffer strains, sprains and cuts, which has been noted in other studies as well.

And although traumatic brain injuries comprised a small percentage of the total injuries--2.6%--numbers rose 70%, from 7,030 injuries in 1997 to 11,948 in 2007. Proportions doubled for boys, and tripled for girls.

In the study, the authors wrote that actual concussion numbers may be larger than what their study found, due to athletes not recognizing concussion symptoms or reporting the injuries to their trainers. However, they added that greater numbers of traumatic injuries may indicate increasing awareness of traumatic brain injuries and symptoms.

They also note that things may be getting more intense on the courts: “In addition, an ever increasing level of competitiveness and intensity of training and play, starting at younger ages, may be contributing to the increase in [traumatic brain injuries].”

-- Jeannine Stein / Los Angeles Times