Sports

A new study linking frequent heading of a soccer ball with changes to the white matter of the brain and poorer performance on a neurocognitive test of memory is likely to add fuel to the fire of a 30-year-old debate about the effects of heading.

Brain trauma to youth and high school players in contact and collision sports can occur not just from violent helmet-on-helmet collisions but from repetitive sub-concussive blows.  There are five major ways to reduce exposure to such hits, experts say.

As part of an ongoing effort to highlight safe weight loss and weight management practices among active people and athletes at all levels, the National Athletic Trainers' Association (NATA) has released a new position statement on "Safe Weight Loss and Maintenance Practices in Sport and Exercise."

There has been an explosion in the number of cheerleading injuries in recent years.  Safety experts, including the NCCSIR, the American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators (AACCA), and the National Cheer Safety Foundation, suggest twelve steps to help prevent cheerleading injuries.

Each year, almost 87,000 hockey-related injuries to youths under age 15 are treated in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms. The total cost of these hockey-related injuries was more than $978 million in 2006. This amount includes medical, legal and liability, work loss, and pain and suffering costs.

Revised pitch count limits, longer mandatory rest periods, and other rule changes implemented by Little League Baseball in 2010 to reduce shoulder and elbow overuse injuries to youth baseball pitchers remain in effect for 2014.

In 2007, Little League Baseball dropped its decades-old pitching rules - which limited pitchers age 12 and under to six innings per week and six innings per game, with the number of innings increasing for older age groups in favor of rules based on pitch count, with the number of allowable pitches based on the pitcher's age and with specific rest periods between pitching appearances when a pitcher reaches higher thresholds of pitches delivered in a day.  Revised rules go into effect for the spring 2010 baseball season.

Baseball requires more protective equipment than many sports.  To play baseball, each team needs baseballs, bats, batting helmets, and bases, and each player, of course, needs a glove.

Of the nearly 500,000 youth baseball injuries treated in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and hospital emergency rooms each year, many are preventable or could be reduced in severity if simple steps are taken.

With spring youth baseball right around the corner, here are some ways to reduce the risk of baseball pitching injuries from overuse, poor pitching mechanics, and/or poor conditioning.