Football injuries among children have increased 22 percent in
the last decade, according to a new study. Overall, however,
sports injuries among children have decreased. The findings
surprised Dr. Shital Parikh, associate professor of orthopaedic
surgery at Cincinnati Children's Hospital and the study's lead
author. Parikh will present his research at the American Academy
of Orthopaedic Surgeons' annual meeting on Thursday. When he
started analyzing the numbers from the National Electronic
Injury Surveillance System, Parikh expected to find a big
increase in kids' injuries based on what he and his colleagues
have seen in their practice. Instead he found that the overall
number of activity injuries for kids aged 5 to 14 decreased 11.3
percent. The researchers looked at data from bicycle,
basketball, football, roller sports, playground equipment,
baseball/softball, soccer and trampoline injuries. Recreational
activities -- such as bicycles, trampolines and roller sports --
saw the biggest decrease at 24.9 perce