Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
Competitive sports provide a highlight of the school experience for many students, while promoting physical fitness, building character, and teaching life skills such as teamwork and sportsmanship.
For Massachusetts cities and towns, organized sports are an important area to evaluate for keeping youth safe and minimizing claims due to accidents and injuries on public or school property or while traveling during school time.
According to the Department of Public Health, each year one in four Massachusetts teens will be seen in the emergency room or admitted to the hospital for a sports-related injury. Seventeen percent of all hospital-treated injuries among youth are sports-related.
Safe Kids USA reports that overuse injuries, which occur from repeated motion, especially on growing bones, are responsible for nearly half of all sports injuries among students.
Some 62 percent of organized sports injuries occur during practices rather than at games. At these conditioning workouts, athletes may be pushed hard with inadequate supervision and focus on health and safety. Ailments may include heat stroke, dehydration, and, in rare but tragic incidences, heart failure and spinal cord injuries.
Much attention is now being paid to high-impact contact sports and the risk of head injuries and concussions. A 2009 DPH survey of middle and high school students showed that 18 percent reported having symptoms associated with a concussion after a blow to the head during extracurricular athletics. That equates to nearly 36,000 incidents, based on the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association’s estimate of 200,000 students in school sports.
BrainandSpinalCord.org estimates that the cost of treating a head injury can range from $85,000 up to $3 million for a severe injury. It is estimated that the cost of caring for a survivor of a traumatic brain injury is between $600,000 and more than $1.8 million over a lifetime.
A growing body of scientific literature demonstrates the short- and long-term risks of concussions. Returning a student athlete to play after a known or suspected concussion places him or her at risk for long-term health consequences. The risk of substantial injury is higher if the athlete suffers a subsequent concussion before completely recovering from the prior one. This “second-impact syndrome” can require prolonged recovery or cause severe brain swelling with devastating and even fatal consequences.
In 2010, the DPH issued a new regulation, 105 CMR 201.000 Head Injuries and Concussions in Extracurricular Athletic Activities, mandated by Chapter 166 of the Acts of 2010, An Act Relative to Safety Regulations for School Athletes. It requires all public middle and high schools (serving grades 6 through 12) and non-public schools that are members of MIAA to have policies and procedures governing the prevention and management of sport-related head injuries.
The law ensures that student athletes and their parents, coaches, athletic directors, school nurses, physicians and others learn about the consequences of head injuries and concussions through training programs and written materials. Additionally, athletes and their parents must inform coaches about prior head injuries at the beginning of the season. If a student athlete becomes unconscious or suffers a known or suspected concussion, the law mandates removing the student from play or practice and requires written certification from a licensed medical professional for a “return to play.”
The regulation outlines a minimum of 17 areas that school policies should address, ranging from key responsibilities, reporting and evaluation processes, communicating to parents, and guidelines for returning students to play.
More information on the guidelines for establishing a school head injuries policy can be found at www.mass.gov/eohhs/docs/dph/com-health/injury/head-injury-reg-guide-acc.pdf.
The following are additional recommendations to ensure the safety of school-aged children in sports:
• Train and certify coaches in each sport they coach.
• Require pre-participation physical exams for all athletes.
• Maintain and improve proper-fitting protective equipment, such as helmets, padding, and leg and mouth guards.
• Provide athletic trainers or medical personnel at all events and practices.
• Teach students about safety first and about recognizing the signs of concussion, dehydration and other ailments.
• Inform parents and athletes of specific sport risks and protective strategies.
• Collect and maintain injury data from all practices and games and share this information among athletic trainers, coaches, instructors and school nurses.
• Maintain and improve the surfaces of public and school playing fields. Check for hazards such as glass, rocks, debris and holes, and inspect artificial turf for safety.
• Use community resources to develop clinics that assist athletes and coaches with training and conditioning for athletes.
A wide range of considerations need to be addressed to ensure safety, to reduce the liability exposure of school districts, and to ensure student safety on the track, field, court, gym and arena.