It never fails.

In fact, not only can I count on this, so can you:

2 kids + 1 back yard trampoline = injury

The injury can be mild to major and can involved one or both kids but it WILL happen and often includes sprains, contusions, lacerations, head traumas, spinal traumas, dislocations, bumps, bruises and concussions. Safety nets don’t prevent these from happening; they just prevent your kids from getting injured on the ground.

You may think that most sound parents, including ourselves, would be swayed by the reams of data that support the dangers of trampolines and keep their kids off. But, more times than not I hear parents say “What can I do? She (or he) just loves it so much!” This is usually mentioned to me during an evaluation for an injury, by the way.  Now do you see why I’m worried?

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Fostering healthy eating and fitness is often a wrestling match of Olympic proportions. In one corner, our kids highly motivated but under trained in the rules of health. In the other, the tag team of activity and food which can change as fast as a chameleon from working for the health of your child to a pure health enemy.

You never know what you’ll get in the ring – exercise or video games. Cookies or carrot sticks. You, the parent, are the referee, and get to play dirty. This is one match where referee interference is not only expected but crucial for our kids to have the winning move.

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As sure as the sun rises and sets every day, resistance from sports parents and young athletes with return to play recommendations, especially when it comes to concussions, is something I’ve come to expect in my work as an urgent care pediatrician. This is one of the biggest uphill battles we face as pediatricians but one we can’t afford to lose without resulting in dire consequences for an athlete and a family.

For concussions, Boston Bruin’s Patrice Bergeron’s story and his cautious, step-wise slow return to play when he returned to the ice in early 2009 the exact play book we need to follow when handling concussions in athletes of ages, and is consistent with current recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics as explained in the January 2009 Pediatrics (Volume 123, Number 1 pagers114-123).

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Don’t tell this to my kids – but my favorite place to sled as a kid was a hill in the woods behind a friend’s house. And, my second favorite hill was at the high school, Senior Hill, which ended at the driveway entering the campus. Talk about violating just about every sledding rule there is! If I only knew then what I know now.

The statistics on injuries from sledding may surprise you. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimated that 14,000 kids ages 5-15 were treated for sledding injuries in 1997. In 2003, the CPSC reported over 90,000 total ER visits for all sledding injuries with half occurring in people under 20 years of age. Luckily, most injuries are minor – cuts, sprains and strains, but fractures, dislocations, facial injuries and serious trauma to the head and spine do occur. And, the younger a child, the more they are at risk for the more serious types of injuries. Continue Reading

We have been incredibly spoiled in New England the last few years between the Patriot’s Super Bowl run and the Red Sox finally winning the World Series. It’s no wonder kids try to emulate the sports heros they see on TV, and parents smile at the notion of that dream coming true for their child. Then we blink and realize it’s just a child’s dream. After all, we know the reality of our kids fulfilling that dream are as likely as finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Or do we? Continue Reading