The Injury Reporting Process - Why to Report

As we wrap up our 3 part blog series on injury reporting, let’s review what we’ve learned thus far! First, we covered what injury reporting actually is and last week, we learned how to report injuries effectively. Finally, let’s look at the “WHY” behind injury reporting. 

There are many reasons to report injuries. Of course, we know the overarching benefit is to reduce injuries and protect the safety and well-being of our athletes to keep them in the game they love. Additional benefits that may not be as obvious include collecting actionable data to reduce injuries, using reporting data to identify trends, and improving year over year.

With sports injuries on the rise due to popularity and oftentimes, sports specializations, it’s no surprise that we’ve seen a significant increase in youth sports injuries. So, what can we do about it? We can report! There is a need for guidance and education regarding how to prevent and respond to these injuries we’re seeing. Collecting and understanding this data (i.e., numbers and frequencies of injuries) is the crucial next step to responding and improving sports safety.

There is strong evidence that depicts why collecting data leads to positive outcomes. In one case study, the number of deaths related to heat stroke among high school athletes led to the distribution of wet-bulb globe temperature devices, estimating the effect of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation on humans, to National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) member schools. In another case study comparing a youth hockey team's injury rates from 2017 to 2018, we saw a dramatic decrease in injuries during the month with the highest rate of injuries (90%), in season games (64%), and in overall injury reports (68%). This tells us that the more we know and the more data we collect, the better we can inform current and future safety efforts.

Click here to learn more about how InjureFree can support your organization’s injury reporting.

References

1. https://www.injurefree.com/
2. https://www.taa-sports.org/Default.aspx?tabid=893898
3. https://www.nfhs.org/articles/helping-students-report-injuries-without-fear-of-looking-weak/
4. https://devzone.positivecoach.org/resource/worksheet/sample-injuryincident-report