Beds, stairs, bicycles and playing football are causing more injuries to children’s brains than anything else.
Sports and recreation, including bicycle crashes, football, basketball, and soccer, accounted for almost 30 percent of traumatic brain injuries, for children aged 5-19 years, according to a recent study in the journal Brain Injury, an international research publication.
Traumatic brain injury can harm children’s brain development, which can affect their behavior, education, physical well-being, and social skills. Severe cases can even result in death.
Medical experts strongly recommend the use of bike helmets, sports helmets, safety gear, along with close supervision, to reduce these injuries in children.
For very young children, under the age of 5 years, falls from beds, especially bunk beds, proved most likely to cause a traumatic head injury, according to the same study. Nearly 20 percent of very young children got head injuries from falling off furniture.
Some brain injuries were caused by falls in the home from structures like uneven flooring or stairways.
Home safety devices such as stair gates and guard rails were also recommended along with avoiding play time on hard outdoor surfaces around playgrounds.
The study also found head injuries occurred when infant or car seats were brought into the house and placed on a high surface, like a table or countertop, and the carrier fell, injuring the infant.
Toys, nursery equipment and home electronics only caused brain injury in a small amount of cases.