(HealthDay is the new name for HealthScoutNews.)
FRIDAY, June 20, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- As more Americans follow the doctor's advice to exercise, they are healthier, happier -- and more likely to get hurt.
A new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) study finds that 7 million Americans, or 16 out of every 1,000 people, received medical attention for sports related-injuries from 1997 to 1999. Calling the figure "substantial," the study recommends that attention be paid to injury risks as more people become physically active.
"Physical activity is key to a healthy lifestyle, and we want to continue to promote exercise, but we also need to be mindful of the risks involved in physical activity and take appropriate measures to reduce those risks," says study author Dr. Julie Gilchrist, a medical epidemiologist with the CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
"While people are very aware of other kinds of injuries, like those from car crashes, they are unaware of the contribution of injuries from recreation and sports to health-care medicine," she says. In fact, the study finds, the number of injuries from sports and recreational activities were higher than those from car crashes during the period of the study.
The results of the study, based on a CDC survey of nearly 40,000 American households, appear in the June issue of Injury Prevention.
Previous data for measuring injuries has been based primarily on trips to hospital emergency rooms, Gilchrist says, and this study found that when visits or phone calls to health professionals outside of the hospital were included in the data, injury rates were as much as 42 percent higher.
The highest injury rates were for young people, aged 5 to 14 years, where 59.3 out of every 1,000 children were seen for a sports-related injury. People aged 15 to 24 had a similar rate, 56.4 per 1,000.
People over 25 years sustained 13.3 injuries per every 1,000, and those injuries were primarily sustained during recreational sports, the study says.
"This study provides some pieces of the puzzle, but there are big areas missing," says Dr. Nicholas DiNubile, a Philadelphia orthopedic surgeon who coined the phrase "boomeritis," referring to the sports injuries suffered by baby boomers, the population now in their 40s.
"If a young person gets hurt, they are more likely to be taken to the doctor and get care," he says. "Older people will live with their pain."
Further, he says, the study misses the large pool of people who suffer not from "true" injuries such as a sprained ankle or wrist, but from less easily diagnosed overuse injuries like tendonitis and bursitis. These people may not seek medical advice at all.
"We need to get a handle on all these people," he says.
The study found that most of the injury episodes occurred at a sports facility (30.7 percent), at school (19.7 percent), or around the home (16.5 percent).
The majority of the injuries were to the upper and lower extremities -- ankles, lower legs, hands, wrists and fingers. Strains and sprains were the most commonly reported injuries (31.5 percent), followed by fractures (22 percent).
Basketball caused more problems than any other sport, reported by 14.4 percent of those injured. That was followed by bicycling, recreational sports, exercising and football.
Men were twice as likely as women to have sports injuries, and their injuries tended to occur as a result of basketball, football or cycling. Women reported exercising, gymnastics, cheerleading and basketball as their main causes of injury.
Gilchrist recommends that people, especially physically active adults, familiarize themselves with the risks of the sports they undertake and take preventive measures while doing the activities to increase their safety.
More information
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons offers tips on preventing injuries while participating in various sports. For more information about sports injuries, visit Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
