My daughter is in the third year of her mountain bike team. Local, parent run, state champions the last four years. Our team is four years old.
The coach of the Bremerton team crashed in a practice. Spinal cord injury. He won't make it.
Prayers for the family and the kids, ya'll.
Here is the CDC on sports concussion injuries: http://www.cdc.gov/concussion/sports/facts.html
Three things from the CDC site:
Each year, U.S. emergency departments (EDs) treat an estimated 173,285 sports- and recreation-
related TBIs, including concussions, among children and adolescents, from
birth to 19 years.
During the last decade, ED visits for sports- and recreation-related TBIs, including
concussions, among children and adolescents increased by 60%.
Overall, the activities associated with the greatest number of TBI-related ED visits included
bicycling, football, playground activities, basketball, and soccer.
My daughter is the careful sort, but accidents still happen. We had a local psychiatrist retire about ten years ago. (Yes, only one. Small town.) He was a tango dance teacher, an excellent athlete and mountain biker. He had an accident and had a high cervical fracture. He lived for a few months but was paralyzed. He got pneumonia and died.
This article by a neurologist points out that the biggest causes of traumatic brain injury are car wrecks and falls: http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/03/27/op-ed-biggest-cause-traumatic-brain-injury-isnt-sports As a family doctor, I am supposed to screen for fall risk during any yearly medicare "wellness" exam. Seems silly in a healthy 65 year old but there are very unhealthy 65 year olds and my oldest patient currently is 97.
Our mountain bike team started this year with concussion education and preinjury screening, much as they are doing with football. We are part of an experimental group sponsored by the state. Another parent was unenthusiastic, but I am glad we are part of it, even before this accident.
Yesterday we bought a new bike helmet for my daughter. She researched them last year after I asked why the mountain bike racers didn't wear BMX helmets. It turns out that they are making very specific highly rated helmets for different types of biking.
But... accidents can still happen. Even if I stayed hiding under the bed.
Prayers for our Bremerton team and our team. Thanks.
The Devil Makes Three: St James