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The Research Behind Chest Protectors: Has it been worth the money spent yet?

Where sports are concerned, our inner need to protect our kids can sometimes be at odds with our desire to allow our kids to spread their wings.  While most sports are safe with proper equipment and coaching, there are always risks involved, especially with contact sports. The question is, how safe is some of the specialized equipment our kids are asked to use, such as chest protectors? 

Should sportsman(woman)ship be scored??

My 13 year old daughter’s overnight camp has an Olympic-like competition each summer called College League. Many overnight

Ellen Reminds Us of The Good In Sports

A couple week's ago, I caught an episode of Ellen with my daughter that had an unusually inspiring story involving college softball players.  One of the players, Sara Tucholsky, tore her ACL after hitting a home run and fell to the ground in incredible pain. By league rules, her teammates could not touch her until the inning was over or she would be out. The opposing team’s firstbase player asked the umpire if she and another of her teammates could

This Just In: Our Kids Are Really Not That Fit!

If you ask parents if their kids are fit, most will say “yes”. If you ask kids if they are fit, most think they are. A new study out tomorrow in JAMA rocks those perceptions to the core with quite a reality check. (JAMA. 2008;300[3]:295-305.)

Preventing ACL Injuries In Kids: Really a Matter of Child's Play

Do you remember Dr. Spock's motto, "Live long and prosper"? Great words to live by and a dream all parents have for their kids. However, today's kids may not get to adulthood without some sort of long-term problem created by the sports they love. A recent article in the The Boston Globe with some of the country's leading pediatric orthopedists drives that point home.

Heart Screening In Kids Doesn't Require Fancy Tests...Just You and Your Doctor

When I saw this story today on the BBC News Health page, two simultaneous thoughts popped to mind: parents would be nervous and US pediatricians would once again have to defend our stance that EKGs are not needed as a routine part of youth sports health screening (a/k/a the pre-participation evaluation or PPE).

A Lesson From The Bad News Bears

Last year, my daughter, then 12, played on a town softball team that had less than a stellar season on paper that is still being talked about a year later - by the girls on the team and the parents involved. This experience embodied everything good and bad about

What Color Is Your Inner Red Sox Fan?

pink red sox hatWhat color is your inner fan? Today mine is pink. Although, some days it is green or mustard yellow - or black if I'm wearing one of the Sox championship hats! As I type this post, I’m wearing my almost new Red Sox very pink t-shirt that my kids gave me for Mother’s Day, part of MLB’s Breast Cancer Awareness

What Kids Need During A Heat Wave Are Usually What They Don't Get: Shade and Sports Drinks

I hear it over and over again this time of year:

"She seemed fine."
"He wasn't thirsty."
"She was playing just great!"
"He looked so strong."

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