Sports Safety is Key to Keeping Your Student Athlete Injury-Free

Originally published: September 26, 2017
Updated on: September 10, 2018

School is back in session, and that means school sports are in full swing. At Lovett Law Firm, our team promotes school sport safety measures to help prevent serious personal injury.

School days are upon us, and our student-athletes are gearing up for exciting new sports seasons. We love when our kids are active and involved. Keep up the enthusiasm for sports participation throughout the year by promoting safe sports practices for your kid and their school’s sports program. While we hate to think personal injuries are possible, they come about all too often in school sports. Some personal injuries can have long-lasting effects and prevent future participation in the sport. Some sports-related personal injuries can be difficult to recognize up front, like concussions.

Head injuries, such as concussions, have become a more prevalent problem in school sports in recent years. A concussion is a type of traumatic head/brain injury and is caused by a sudden bump or blow to the head. It can also be caused when the body is jolted with such a force that it causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. The sudden movement can cause the brain to move around the skull, resulting in chemical changes and sometimes damage to the brain cells.

The best ways to prevent a concussion and other personal injuries for your student-athlete is to take the following safety measures and to make sure that they are followed in your son or daughter’s athletic program:

• Know how to recognize the symptoms of a concussion so you can seek the proper medical treatment. These symptoms include:
  • Headaches
  • Blurry vision
  • Short-term memory loss
  • Sleep disturbances
  • Nausea
  • Sudden fatigue
  • Sensitivity to light
  • Depression.
• Speak with your child about how important it is to report a concussion or possible concussion. Continuing to play sports with a concussion drastically increases the athlete’s chances of long-term complications and issues. If that isn’t enough, continuing to play on a concussion typically doubles recovery time, meaning the student could potentially miss more time on the field or court if their situation is left unreported.
• Verify that there is a protocol in place on how to respond if someone gets a concussion. There should always be an athletic trainer in attendance, and these trainers should be well aware of how and when to put a player through the concussion protocol. If you find that there is no trainer or medical staff present for your student’s game, please speak to the school’s administration immediately.
• Ensure all athletes wear the proper protective gear. Mouthguards, helmets, and even protective clothing will often reduce a student athlete’s chances of suffering from a concussion during play.

Additionally, the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) has put forth a list of suggested practices school athletic programs should put in place to foster a community spirit of safety and injury prevention. These suggestions include:

• Talking to students and parents about the risks that come with concussions and other sports-related injuries, as well as the benefits of being involved in school athletic programs.
• Educating students on safety measures they should be taking on and off the field or court.
• Requiring physical examinations prior to participation and ensuring compliance by coordinating these exams or even providing them for student-athletes.
• Creating and enforcing a protocol for selection and maintenance of all athletic equipment.
• Developing injury prevention strategies under various circumstances, such as different sports venues and varying weather conditions.
• Making psychosocial consultation, nutritional counseling, and education readily available for the athletes.

When schools and supervisors get complacent, student-athletes are the ones who suffer. If you have a child whose school misdiagnosed a concussion or ignored concussion-like symptoms that resulted in significant personal injury, contact the personal injury lawyer in Texas and New Mexico, Robert Lovett. The Lovett Law Firm is committed to helping the injured receive the financial compensation they deserve.

For more information on how we can help you win cases involving school sports-related injuries, please call Lovett Law Firm, personal injury and accident lawyer in El Paso, NM and Las Cruces, NM today at 915-757-9999 (El Paso, Texas) or 575-523-5555 (Las Cruces, New Mexico) to request a free initial consultation with our experienced personal injury attorney.