Preventing Summer Injuries

It’s the end of the school year – a time to celebrate and enjoy long days of outdoor play. Unfortunately, more play sometimes results in more pains, strains, muscle pulls and playground and sports-related injuries. SafeKidsUSA found that 40 percent of all injuries occur at the beginning and the end of the school year – and that nearly 70 percent occur on public playgrounds.

Here are some safety tips to help protect our children from pain and injury and keep them out of the emergency room:

• Children should have a physical exam before participating in sports and always wear the proper protective equipment. Be sure your child stretches and warms up muscles prior to activity, which helps prevent injuries.
• Clothing and shoes should fit properly. Loose clothes can catch in playground equipment, and properly fitting footwear minimizes the risk of falling or tripping.
• Small children should be supervised at the playground or while playing outside at home.
• Since bullying is a growing epidemic, an adult should accompany younger children to the bus stop and playground to avoid episodes of roughhousing.

Even with precautions, kids have accidents and there are times when pain and injuries are unavoidable. Moreover, 25 to 40% of children ages 3 to 5 and 8 to 12 experience growing pains.

While injuries are a part of growing up, parents aren’t always sure which treatment options are safe and effective for their children – especially given the side effects of many oral pain relievers and the allergic reactions many kids have to smelly, greasy topical ointments.

There is a lot of research that goes into raising kids these days. Medical research is, thankfully, very accessible via reliable sites on the internet. Do your research to find natural, safe alternatives to slathering your children with chemical after chemical, some with potentially dangerous side effects. Bumps and bangs are unfortunately too frequent to be constantly chemicalized without taking some time out to look for some of the great alternatives that are currently on the market.

I wish you and your children a summer full of Play not Pain!

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Christina Towle is the media relations liaison for Topical BioMedics, Inc. headquartered in Rhinebeck, NY. Topical BioMedics is the research and development leader in topical regulated natural biomedicines for pain relief. The company’s flagship product, Topricin® Pain Relief and Healing Cream, was introduced in 1994 and is now a leading natural therapeutic brand.  Prior to joining with Topical BioMedics, Christina wrote for Healthygirl.net and handled public relations for Gigi Hudson Valley – a farm-to-fork food company.

Christina@topicalbiomedics.com

The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor’s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.