Additional safety precautions for athletes of all ages were discussed during the Youth Sports Safety Summit Tuesday morning. Professionals, including athletic trainers, orthopaedic surgeons, parents, students, physicians, professors and state legislators all presented possible solutions to help decrease the risk of catastrophic athletic injuries and illness among athletes. 

Last year, Tommy Mallon, a student at Santa Fe Christian High School in San Diego, broke his neck during a lacrosse game.  His school athletic trainer, Riki Kirchhoff, saved his life by following proper procedure.  It turned out Mallon had a fractured neck and without the help of an athletic trainer, he would have died.

The summit, hosted by the National Athletic Trainers' Associaton (NATA), covered various catastrophic injuries, such as concussions and brain injuries, sudden cardiac arrest and exertional heat illness, as well as a need for Automated External Defibrillators in all schools and pre-participation exams in hopes of decreasing situations like Mallon's.

NATA formed an alliance with 30 other organizations, including Safe Kids USA, Parent Heart Watch, National Academy of Neuropsychology and National Sports Safety Organizations in order to address "the Youth Sports Safety Crisis in America," according to a news release by the NATA.

"Because youth athletes today continue to play more sports, or one sport at a more intense level of play, they are experiencing chronic and sometimes catastrophic injuries that could sideline them for a season or even a lifetime,"NATA president Marjorie J. Albohm said in a press release, adding that recent studies have shown an increase in catastrophic injuries.

Dr. Robert Burger, a representative of the Orthopaetic Society of Sports Medicine, said about 7.3 million students participate annually in sports around the country. Two million injuries occur out of those 7 million participants — 500,000 of those injuries requiring doctor visits and 30,000 requiring hospitalization. 

Burger said many of the injuries endured by young athletes could lead to serious illness later on in life, such as depression, anxiety and fatigue.

"Our goal is to achieve a culture, a culture of youth sports in America," he said. "A culture where sports participation includes injury awareness and is focused on prevention."

He said the goal of  NATA and other organization is not to weed out students from athletic programs, but to protect the students who are prone to serious injuries. Burger added that the No. 1 priority of professionals should be to prevent injuries.

Diane Claerbout is a member of the board of directors for Parent Heart Watch. She said injuries are not as rare as some people believe, and added that there are about 15,000 to 20,000 incidents of sports related cardiac arrest every year.  According to 2008-2009 Parent Heart Watch statistics, there were 36 documented incidents of cardiac arrest from athletes between the ages of 10 to 25 in California.

Claerbout said many of these cases could have been prevented if AED's had been used. 

"Having an AED is not enough, she said.  "People have to know where they are, when to use them and not be afraid of them," she said.  "There is a lot of fear out there."

She said many people are afraid to use them because they don't want to misuse the equipment. She added that the solution would be to require AED training for coaches and teachers.

Claerbout noted that screening teens for physical symptoms that might lead to heart problems would also be a solution. She said other countries like Italy and Japan have been screening athletes for years and have kept statistics. The screenings have helped bring down the numbers of cardiac arrest incidences, she said. 

But cardiac arrest isn't the only thing young athletes have to worry about. Even though cardiac arrest is the leading cause of death in sports injuries, heat illness does not fall far behind.

According to Dr. Rebecca Demorest, committee member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness, heat illness is the third leading cause of death among high school athletes. 

Demorest said heat illness could easily be prevented by keeping athletes hydrated while they are active. Many athletes don't think about hydration before or after exercise, and she said those are also important factors in prevention 

"Heat illness is preventable," she said.  "Proper hydration is paramount," she said.  "Hydration needs to be accessible and used by athletes before, during and after sporting or exercise activity."

She said pre-hydration is more important than hydrating during exercise. Demorest said 16 ounces of fluids should be consumed before two to three hours of activity to help with hydration. She added that over-hydration is also possible. Some athletes are concerned about not being hydrated enough and they over hydrate, according to Demorest. Over-hydrating can also be deadly.

Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, chairman of the department of exercise and sport science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said concussions are also a cause for concern.  On average 950 collegiate and 750 high school athletes receive a form of head injury, and added that most of those athletes were football players.   

"According to our research, once you sustain the first concussion, you are about two times more likely to sustain a second concussion compared to someone who has never had a concussion," he said. "Once you've had a second concussion, you are about three times more likely to sustain another concussion compared to someone who has never had one."

He said professionals should help educate and council athletes, parents and coaches on concussions and how to prevent repetition.

Guskiewicz said pre-participation examinations are also a key to prevention. He added they are currently working on  legislation that will bring examinations to all schools in North Carolina. The legislation will mandate athletes and coaches to take trainings that would include detecting the symptoms of head injuries.

But North Carolina isn’t the only state writing up legislation for youth sports safety.

Assembly member Mary Hayashi has been working on legislation in California since 2009 that would help prevent many of the problems plaguing young athletes.

Hayashi said her legislation, Assembly Bill 533, addresses many of the issues of concern. She said the main focus of the bill is to further train coaches to detect catastrophic injuries. She added that states such as Oregon, Texas and Washington have already passed similar laws.

“There is no reason why California can’t do this,” she said, adding that we could join the 10 other states with similar laws. “We should be able to do some of these things in California as well.”

Hayashi will be looking to reactivate AB 533 this year and is looking for Californians' support.

For more information about the youth sports safety crisis in America,  visit nata.org. For more information about AB 655, visit assembly.ca.gov.