Insight: Mar 5
Insight looks at why more kids are getting sports injuries and what can be done to prevent them.
- Published by David Knox
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Tonight on SBS Insight looks at why more kids are getting sports injuries and what can be done to prevent them.
Owen was 11 years old when he fractured his neck in three places while playing rugby union.
“The scrum collapsed and I hyperextended my neck and then it broke”, Owen Eymael tells host Jenny Brockie on this week’s Insight exploration into the increase of child sports injuries. “I just wanted to know if I’d be up for footy.”
Sports injury is the main cause of emergency department visits for children, yet experts say about half of injuries are preventable.
While Owen lay still, his shoes taken off and ambulances called, Owen’s mum, Louise, wasn’t too concerned.
“[We thought] everyone was making a fuss about nothing because Owen often used to come off crying and then be back on five minutes later”, she says.
Kiara Maguire, 18, was playing netball when she landed after a jump and felt her leg collapse with a pop.
“It’s the sound you never want anyone to hear”, she tells Insight.
Kiara had ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in her knee and fractured her shin bone.
The number of ACL reconstructions is on the rise among young people – research shows an increase of 74 per cent in people aged under 25, with fastest growth among kids under 14 years old*.
“What we’re now seeing is actually adult injuries in young children”, says Professor Gary Browne from The Children’s Hospital at Westmead.
Health experts point to bigger BMIs, increased screen time, a lack of free play, overtraining and intense focus on a single sport as theories behind the trend.
But on the ground, coaches add it’s also difficult to trust information from young players and parents.
“You’re at the mercy of what they’re telling you”, says Matt Hall, who coaches Under 15s rugby union.
With children motivated to play on, how do teenagers, parents and coaches decide what’s best?
And with doctors and physiotherapists saying they have the answer – agility training programs proven to reduce injuries in kids – why isn’t the information cutting through?
Tuesday 5 March at 8.30pm on SBS.