Health

The Most Dangerous Sports in America

By Bjorn Carey, LiveScience Staff Writer

posted: 14 June 2006 05:50 pm ET

: Fall off your bike and get hurt? Don't feel alone because so did nearly half a million took spills too. U.S. president George W. Bush fell off his mountain bike and down a hill in May, 2004. Credit: AP Photo/Charles Dharapak

Many moms might worry about their kids getting hurt playing football, but a new study shows that playing basketball and riding bicycles sent more Americans to the emergency room in 2005.

More than half a million people suffered basketball-related injuries last year, compared to 485,000 hurt on bikes and 418,000 injured playing football.

Trampolines bounced 108,000 U.S. residents into the hospital. And believe it or not, some 47,000 people managed to get hurt playing golf.

"Athletes, youngsters and weekend warriors alike can wind up in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to these sports," said Pietro Tonino, director of the division of sports medicine at Loyola University Health System. "So before people run to the basketball court, they need to take steps to reduce their injury risk."

Tonino used data from the U.S. Consumer Produce Safety Commission on injuries treated in emergency rooms.

The Top 15:

Basketball: 512,213
Bicycling: 485,669
Football: 418,260
Soccer: 174,686
Baseball: 155,898
Skateboards: 112,544
Trampolines: 108,029
Softball: 106,884
Swimming/Diving: 82,354
Horseback riding: 73,576
Weightlifting: 65,716
Volleyball: 52,091
Golf: 47,360
Roller skating: 35,003
Wrestling: 33,734

Knee injuries, especially to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), are some of the most common and serious, the new study found.

While ACL injuries can be treated with surgery and physical therapy, a way to prevent them is to build up the strength of your hamstrings. Tonino also recommends landing on the balls of your feet with knees bent and butt back, as if you were about to sit in a chair.