A government study was conducted to assess the safety of playground equipment for children finding that most concussions result from playing on monkey bars and every child’s favorite – the swings.
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Concussion and playground related brain injuries in children are on the rise, reveals a recent report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In terms of specific equipment in the playground notorious for head injuries in children, monkey bars top the list, causing 28.3 percent of the total TBI cases among children, followed by swings at 28.1 percent.
The CDC study examined national data available on children age 14 and younger who visited emergency rooms between 2001 and 2013.
Around 215,000 kids were treated each year, and about 10% suffered a traumatic brain injury, like a concussion.
“For the younger kids they can’t differentiate between my head hurts because I have a headache or I just got hit”, says Jim Raynor, Administrative Director for Mercy Sports Medicine. Most injuries happened on weekdays in April, May and September. Playground-related brain injuries have risen significantly in the United States over the last decade, health officials say. “That doesn’t mean hand holding and not letting children play the way they need to play to develop and be social but it does mean being available if an injury does take place”. It’s also possible that more children are using playground equipment, the researchers said. “These may include improved adult supervision, methods to reduce child risk behavior, regular equipment maintenance, and improvements in playground surfaces and environments”, they added. That number dipped to 13,000 in 2005 but then steadily climbed to 29,000 in 2013. Of all the kids sent to the emergency ward for treatment, only 58 percent were boys and the rest, 42 percent, were girls.
“Even if they’re old enough that they think they can do something by themselves I want to make sure they’re safe the whole time so I will monitor and watch them”, Wilson said.
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The ground should also be covered by soft material (like sand or wood chips), instead of concrete so that blows are lessened should children fall or trip. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.
