Sports injuries

Phyllis Gardner missed a meeting of the WAIS board. She writes: "So sorry I couldn't attend at the last moment. My son collapsed at his little league all-stars game after a long throw from deep center to home to tag out a runner. The throw made it, but he subluxed his shoulder and had a fracture of his humeral epiphysis in the process. We have a long haul of splint, physiotherapy, and rehab ahead. Fortunately, they say it has a good prognosis with the proper care". It takes a baseball fan and an MD to understand this, and I am neither. There are signs around Palo Alto "sports therapy", or something like that. I have wondered what beyond ski accidents and boxing is involved. If Phyllis' boy had been playing soccer, he would have escaped his misfortune. But to what would he have been exposed? In the TV shows on the World Cup games, players were often knocked over and sometimes carried out on a stretcher. However, in the mass of reports on the games I did not see one reference to the nature of the accidents. Can any WAISer enlighten us on this aspect of soccer? Is soccer safer than a little league baseball game? There must be some documentation on the relative dangers of sports. My favorite sport was chess, which I recommend to Phyllis' boy.

Ronald Hilton - 7/13/02