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Concussion And Playground Related Brain Injuries In Children On The Rise, Says CDC

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Concussion And Playground Related Brain Injuries In Children On The Rise, Says CDC

Health Wellness

Sara Gale

May 03, 2016
The childhood home of George W. Bush
Children in Midland, Texas play in Cowden Park, September 4, 2000.
 
The park sits behind the last Midland house that presidential candidate George W. Bush lived in as a child. He could run out the back door of his home and spend hours in the park playing baseball or hunting for frogs after torrential rain. (Photo : Photo by Joe Raedle/Newsmakers)

Concussion and playground related brain injuries in children are on the rise, reveals a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite precautions and measures taken through the decade, the figures keep increasing almost every year.

About 21000 children aged 14 years or younger were treated in the emergency rooms for playground related brain injuries and concussions between 2001 and 2013, according to recent statistics from CDC. Though improvements in the playground design and safety were reportedly made through the decade there seems to be no decline in the number of cases treated every year.

"It's not just sports. This study highlights the importance of other causes of traumatic brain injuries and concussion among children," said study researcher Dr Jeneita Bell, a medical officer at the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, noted US News. "We can only make assumptions; it may be that there is increased awareness about concussions as a whole," Bell said.

The equipment like playground gym, monkey bars and swings are found to contribute to maximum number of injuries and about two third of the accidents were reported to have taken place in schools and other sports recreational facilities. About 6 out of 10 children injured were found to be boys and half the number of boys were aged between five and nine.

According to National injury-surveillance data the emergency rooms have treated 29,000 children for brain related injuries and concussions in 2013, noted researchers. About 18,000 more children were injured in 2013 when compared to 2001.

Meanwhile, Bell noted that children should be allowed to play in the equipment meant for their age. And it is mandatory for parents to make sure that the equipment the children are playing is in good condition.

"We want to make sure there is some form of appropriate supervision. That doesn't mean hand holding and not letting children play the way they need to play to develop and be social but it does mean being available if an injury does take place," said Nick Reed, co-director of the concussion centre at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto, according to CBC.