Posted on October 31, 2001 at 3:25 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Extreme sports are among the fastest growing recreational activities in the nation. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association says in-line skating is the fastest growing sport in the nation with approximately 29 million skaters, nearly double the number of people playing soccer. With the increase in popularity comes a corresponding increase in injuries among extreme sports participants.
“Studies have shown that people participating in extreme sports often fail to wear protective equipment and tend to take risks,” says Katherine Terry of the UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) Injury Control Research Center. “Participants also often overestimate their ability to perform high risk maneuvers.”
Studies show that nearly 75 percent of all people who are injured while participating in extreme sports incurred their injuries because they were not wearing any type of protective gear.
“Parents need to closely monitor activities and insist that the child wear the proper protective equipment,” says Dr. Kurt Denninghoff, UAB emergency medicine physician. “In most cases this includes some combination of a helmet, elbow pads, kneepads and wrist guards. Parents should also make sure that their children receive proper training in their sport of choice.”
Popular extreme sports include in-line skating, skateboarding, mountain biking, snowboarding, bungee jumping, rock/artificial wall climbing, paintball and whitewater kayaking/canoeing.
In-line skaters most often injure their wrists and elbows. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, wrist guards and elbow pads afford the same amount of protection to inline skaters as helmets do for cyclists.
Of the estimated 65,000 children receiving medical treatment for inline skating injuries each year, almost half have fractured a bone and 7,000 injured the head or face.
The UAB Injury Control Research Center is sponsoring a seminar entitled “Extreme Sports and Extreme Medicine: An Overview of Extreme Sports Injuries," on November 1, featuring Dr. Tracy Ray, a sports medicine specialist. The seminar is from noon to 1 p.m., at the UAB Center for Psychiatric Medicine 2nd floor auditorium, 1713 6th Avenue South.