Spinal hits put safety on radar

GOLD Coast sports injury experts are warning parents and teachers to consider safety in all codes after a spate of junior rugby players were hospitalised for spinal injuries.

A 15-year-old St Joseph’s Nudgee College student is the fourth teenage rugby player to have suffered a serious neck or spinal injury in the past month.

Benowa orthopaedic surgeon and Griffith associate professor Christopher Vertullo said while spinal injuries were rare, sports injuries in students were on the increase.

“We have seen a 70 per cent increase in injuries to ACLs (anterior cruciate ligament), specifically in those under 25 years of age,” he said.

He said the increase in sporting injuries might be due to a number of factors.

“We are finding children are larger and stronger than their parents and they tend to concentrate on a single sport,” he said.

Founder of the Spinal Research Foundation and C2 quadriplegic Perry Cross, who was injured at the age of 19 while playing rugby, said the game was not a major cause of spinal injury.

“The most dangerous or risky thing we can do is get in a motor vehicle,” Mr Cross said.

“Every year in Australia we have 400 spinal injuries, half are caused by motor vehicles.”

Mr Cross said he was more concerned about helping students who had been injured.

“There are months and years of ongoing rehabilitation and care costs associated with spinal injuries,” he said.

All Saints College headmaster Patrick Wallas said school rugby competitions had made significant changes to rugby scrums in the past decade and a lot of work had also been undertaken in concussion prevention.

“I don’t believe it (rugby) is the most dangerous sport,” he said. “We do however live in a world where mitigating risk has become a huge focus for all schools. That is a good thing, a desire to keep everyone safe.