Researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital studied injuries between 2005-2011 in the U.S. and found that more than 2.5 million high school basketball players were injured and there aren’t nearly enough athletic trainers were in schools to care for them.
“That’s a lot of injuries, that’s a lot of medical care and a lot of time lost from a sport that kids really like to play,” said Lara McKenzie, PhD, the lead author of the study and principal investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Because only about 42% of high schools have athletic trainers on staff a vast majority of injured players wind up in urgent care facilities and emergency departments, some unnecessarily. “With more athletic trainers working in our schools, we could care for injured players much more efficiently,” said McKenzie.
