Dear Oakland Athletes,
Imagine all the passion you have for a sport and that being shattered in a matter of seconds due to you having an accident that prevents you from playing. Have you wondered how that would be if you did get a serious injury? Everyone knows that playing a sport comes with benign and malignant situations and the worst situation that can happen besides losing a game is getting seriously injured by either getting a sprain, concussion, broken bones, and/or knee injuries. Based on the Research, Sports Injuries are a public health issue because people are not aware of the consequences it can bring them physically if they over work their body and get common injuries.
First, many people that play sports are not aware of the common acute injuries they can get while playing a sport. In the article titled “Overuse Injuries published by Orthopedic Associates in 2019, they stated, “Common examples include wrist fractures, ankle sprains, shoulder dislocations, and hamstring muscle strain” (Orthopedic Associates). Most of these common injuries people that play sports are aware of and see it as something “normal” that’s supposed to happen. When someone plays a sport they know the risk they have of getting injured due to the roughness or competition the sport brings. Yet, this should not be part of something they see as normal and should be more careful when playing sports. No matter how small the injury is it can always lead to something more serious so we always have to be cautious. Based on my opinion it is not good keeping up with these kinds of injuries because for the people who are injured with these effects might have a feeling not to go back to play sports if they have a sprain or concussion
Secondly, chronic injuries are another issue we need to inform people about. In the article Physical Medicine & Chiropractic published by AFC Physical Medicine & Chiropractic started by 2 doctors 30 years ago they stated, “Chronic injuries, which are also called overuse injuries, are health problems that can develop slowly and last a long time” (AFC Physical Medicine & Chiropractic ). If people overuse their body when they are playing sports it can have a long term effect and the healing process will be longer. These are the types of injuries that can come to the point of preventing you from ever playing a sport again. And the people who have experienced this type of injury have the possibility that in the future they can continue to feel pain in the area that they over worked by doing a sport or exercise.
The passion that people have with sports is that there are a lot of people who play and that they want to succeed in the sport that they are playing. Although, sometimes a lot of people try to get better at the sport and that the people who play the sport work out too much and they injure themselves by overworking themselves.
For our survey we had 21 students from Life Academy take our survey from Freshman to Seniors to procure information about sports injuries in our school community.. The survey consisted of 16 questions that varied to give different information about sports injuries.
Graph #1: Common Sports Injuries by Gender
This graph shows different opinions based on gender and types of sport injury.I notice that women think that sprains are the most common sport injury. I notice that males think that knee injuries are the most common sport injuries. Both genders don’t actually know which is the most common injury of all. The most common injury is actually sprains and concussions. This shows that both females and male need to be educated for injuries.
Graph #2: Type of Sport by Gender
This graph shows that there are more females than boys playing basketball. I also noticed that soccer is more played by males. I noticed that volleyball is the second sport that womens like. I think the type of injuries are different because of the different sport they played.
(Blue= Male Red= Female)
Graph #3: Freshman and Senior Exercise
Based on the research and the surveys, to be Upstanders to prevent Sports Injuries we believe the most effective way to improve is to share information through social media and our community to inform them.
Aim #1: Instagram
The first step we will take to start informing people is to create an instagram page that anyone will have access to. The reason we chose Instagram is because if we have people repost our page it can appear in the explore page and that’s how we can get more people to view our information. Our goal is to inform as many people as we can and for them to have a page they can get information about Sports Injuries since the majority of the people play a sport or played a sport. We want to teach them to wear protection. For example, for soccer it is important to wear shin guards. As a team, what we will do is create an Instagram page and try to figure out a name that will be catchy and will grab people’s attention. Once we have created the page we will start posting information about sports and the different types of sports injuries. We want to make sure we post information that is not common and people don’t really know about so they can be interested in our page. We will be posting at least once a day and try to get creative on the Instagram story so we can also interact with our followers. We will know our instagram page is successful if we have our followers interacting with us and sharing if the page was helpful or not. We know that it won’t be easy to get followers and an obstacle may be that people don’t view our page due to all the information they can get on google.
Aim #2: Posters
Our second aim to start informing people is to create posters that will have information about Sports Injuries. The posters we will create will only have images because we figure that posters that have writing people don’t really stop to see them. In order to create these posters we will need a few supplies like markers, color pencils, glue, tape, and paper. Once we have the material we will split up the work on how many posters each person will create. In each poster it will be images that show the types of injuries and also each image will be like a story so people can see the things certain injuries can cause. Once the posters are all done we will post some at school in the hallways so everyone can look at them. Another place we would like to post them is in recreation areas or gyms so people can also be informed. These posters are important and we know this will be effective because people will see images of how risky it is to get injured in sports and that will catch their attention since everyone at least plays a sport.
Aim #3: Big Event about Sports Injuries
Our third aim will be to create a short film that we would show at an event we will have for the community. The film will include short clips of different types of scenarios of ways you can get injured. Also, we want to include information about sports and not just injuries so it can interest them. We want to have professional players be part of the clips and give a short message of their experience and tips so the community can be informed. This will be effective because if we have a special guest then it will make it more interesting for people to attend an event. Also, the event will be free. We will first have to find a day that will be best for everyone and make sure that the guest speakers are available that day. We will also need to plan out the schedule of how the day will go and till how long it will be. We will need chairs, stage, speaker, mic, and waters, food, tables and volunteers. As we get things we will be knowing what other things we will need.
In conclusion, Oakland Athletes, we want to reiterate again to you the importance of Staying Safe while playing sports. Being injured is the dismal experience because you will have to stay in bed which is boring and therapy is no fun either. #StaySafe
Ronny, Efraim, and Luis
Website:
Chronic Injuries. (2019, May 30). Retrieved May 07, 2020, from https://www.afcchiropractic.com/conditions/chronic-injuries
Advanced Solutions International, Inc. (n.d.). Overuse Injury. Retrieved May 07, 2020, from https://www.stopsportsinjuries.org/STOP/Prevent_Injuries/Overuse_Injury.aspx
