Summer is peak season for children's organized baseball, basketball, soccer and other sports-and, unfortunately, for sports-related injuries to young bodies and limbs. If you're involved in running any of these activities or have a child who's participating in them, there's an interesting study about sports-related injuries to kids from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) that you might want to consider. Here are some of the highlights:

Kids Are Vulnerable But Think They're Invincible

Kids are more susceptible than adults to suffer injuries while participating in sports. Part of the reason is physical: Children's bones, muscles, tendons and ligaments are still growing. That makes them more vulnerable to fracturing, rupturing and tearing.

But part of children's vulnerability is attitudinal. "Children often believe they're invincible when participating in familiar sports or recreational activities," says James H. Beaty, MD, pediatric orthopedic surgeon and second vice-president of the AAOS. The combination of tender bones and reckless attitudes is a recipe for injury, notes Beaty.

Tips for Preventing Injuries

The AAOS study also lists common sense precautions that adults can take to prevent kids from suffering sports-related injuries:

• Make sure that all kids who participate know and follow the rules of the sport;
• Make kids wear appropriate protective gear, such as shin guards for soccer and helmets for baseball and bike riding;
• Make sure kids know how to use the equipment properly and check it before use;
• Make sure kids warm up properly before engaging in the activity;
• Don't let kids keep playing when they're clearly in pain or extremely tired; and
• On hot days, make sure there are plenty of rest breaks and that kids stay hydrated.

POP QUIZ

Which Sports Generate the Most Injuries to Kids?

Rank the following sports in order by numbers of injuries to kids:

CHOICES:

• Baseball/Softball
• Swimming
• Tennis
• In-line Skating
• Basketball
• Trampolining
• Biking
• Volleyball

ANSWER:

• Basketball: 1,066,004
• Biking: 832,775
• Baseball/Softball: 427,372
• Trampolining: 211,646
• Swimming: 117,889
• Volleyball: 92,409
• In-Line Skating: 82,903
• Tennis: 20,514

Note: These numbers are as much a reflection of the sport's popularity as its degree of danger. If as many kids did in-line skating as played basketball, the number of injuries would likely be way over 1.06 million.

Source: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (all figures from 2003)

WHERE SAFETY REALLY IS CHILD'S PLAY

Training the next generation of safety professionals.

This summer, get your child involved in the next generation of safety inventors. Camp Invention is a weeklong camp offered by the National Inventors Hall of Fame in partnership with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

The Program

The program - for kids entering 2nd to 6th grades - encourages teamwork, creative problem solving and inventive thinking. Building on author Robert Olsen's concept described in his 1980 book The Art of Creative Thinking , campers follow the DO IT process - that is:

D- efine the problem
O- pen the mind to possibilities
I- dentify the best solution and
T- ransform it into action

On their arrival, campers are enlisted by the Society for No More Excuses, an organization that needs the campers' help in eliminating all the excuses people use to avoid unwanted work.

In each module, campers start with a concept and build on it through the week, watching and testing its evolution. For example in Spills and Chills, kids grapple with ways to make a skateboard safer, testing their designs on crash-test dummies (made from recycled materials). Then they move on to cars, designing a three-point safety belt for an egg. Finally, they add new safety inventions to protect drivers and passengers.

From physics to prototype building, movie development to bug biology, campers are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild as they look for creative solutions to everyday problems. They even take apart broken or discarded household appliances looking for new problem-solving inventions. But first campers must learn how to use all tools correctly and must follow safety precautions.

For more information, visit www.invent.org and look for Camp Invention in the Programs tab.

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