Blog  |  January 19th, 2015

School Sports Injuries

Sport and health are often talked of in the same breath, and more often than not, parents encourage their children to participate in sport for all the best reasons. Getting fit, being part of a team, spending less time in front of a variety of screens and setting up a lifetime of activity and enthusiasm.

But there are down sides to sport, and that is the potential for injury. With the cup competitions in sport beginning in the New Year, it is an opportune time to consider managing the risk of injury for young people.

The sports with the most injuries are those that involve contact as part of the game, and at the top of that list is Rugby Union. Young people are becoming fitter, are building their muscles, and are faster as a result. Two fit fast eighteen year olds clashing in a tackle can have a combined speed of up to thirty miles an hour. Limbs are twisted and sometimes broken, muscles strained and ligaments torn.

In her book, Tackling Rugby: What Every Parent Should Know, Allyson Pollock has compiled some relevant statistics from her research in Scotland. For boys in the 1^st and 2^nd 15s, 70% have had a serious injury, including concussion, torn ligaments or bone fractures.

While Rugby has the highest level of awareness, GAA sports are also a catalyst for injury, for both girls and boys, as is hockey. Non – contact sports can also result in muscle and ligament injuries, which can become more likely the higher the level of fitness. Athletes of all ages are prone to injury from the sport that they love. Cycling has its risks, from a small fall to a serious crash.

It is parents’ role to manage risk for their children. The injury that occurs on the pitch, court or track leads to a visit to the A&E, and then to a visit to a specialist, all of which can be time consuming, or involve a long wait.

With a H3 Health Insurance policy, the risk can be managed and the reward is a faster recovery process. H3 Health Insurance works in direct partnership with Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast, where you can go directly to their Private Casualty service and be seen in minutes as opposed to waiting for hours. Most injuries apart from serious head injury can be seen there. The H3 team will then arrange for you to see a specialist (if required) in the shortest turnaround time, and the treatment is underway. The outcome prognosis significantly decreases for injuries dealt with less than 6 hours after post-accident.  Therefore the emphasis of getting sports injuries through casualty in minutes rather than hours can have long term implications for our promising young sports players.

Sport is part of modern life, both participating and watching. It is exciting and emotionally involving, and most of all enjoyable. It can be more enjoyable knowing that the risk is being managed and your children have the security of a team that is there to help if they do get injured.