HHS HealthBeat (April 18, 2008)

Play fair

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

When people don’t play fair, players get hurt. Researchers estimate that over 90,000 sports injuries in high schools from 2005 to 2007 could be blamed on someone breaking the rules.

The study looked at a national database on injuries in nine sports. Christy Collins of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, found 6.4 percent of all sports injuries were related to broken rules, with the highest rates in soccer.

Collins notes that rules are made to reduce the chance that people could get hurt. She says there’s a lesson in that for competitors:

``By following the rules and understanding that illegal activity could cause serious injury, players can help reduce the number of injuries related to illegal activity.’’ (7 seconds)

The study in the journal Injury Prevention was supported in part by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: April, 17 2008