Pediatric academy warns boxing is unsafe for children
Elk Grove Village, IL – Boxing is not a safe sport for children or adolescents, according to a policy statement (.pdf file) released Aug. 28 by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The risk of head, face and neck injuries outweighs the benefits children may gain from boxing, the statement reads.
In 2008, more than 18,000 children younger than 19 were registered with USA Boxing, the national governing body of amateur boxing in the United States; however, the organization does not keep records of injuries, making detailed injury data difficult to ascertain. The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System reported 1,263 boxing-related injuries among children 5-14 years old in the United States in 2007. The type and severity of these injuries was not detailed.
AAP encourages children to participate in other sports that do not carry a high risk of neurological injury.
Post a comment to this article
Safety+Health welcomes comments that promote respectful dialogue. Please stay on topic. Comments that contain personal attacks, profanity or abusive language – or those aggressively promoting products or services – will be removed. We reserve the right to determine which comments violate our comment policy. (Anonymous comments are welcome; merely skip the “name” field in the comment box. An email address is required but will not be included with your comment.)