About 36 million children play organized sports each year, but it's the high-impact ones we need to look out for. Some parents think getting hurt is just part of the game. Others think something must be said about the risks. In an interview with "Today" in 2017, Dr. Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist, said high-impact sports can be dangerous, and the "big six" to avoid are: American footballIce hockeyMixed martial artsBoxingWrestling RugbyHowever, sports such as lacrosse and soccer can be dangerous, too. Omalu also stressed that children should not be allowed to play until they're 18, a theory he discusses in his book "Truth Doesn't Have a Side." He called the act of going out on the field and suffering "repeated blows" to the head, the "definition of child abuse." "If and when a child plays a high-impact, high-contact sport, that child receives blows to the head ... sometimes more than 50 blows per game, and that child has a 100 percent risk of exposure to brain damage," Omalu further explained to GoodHousekeeping.com. "We are therefore intentionally exposing our children to the risk of brain damage. The fundamental definition of child abuse is the intentional exposure of a child to the risk of injury."Omalu believes football is the most dangerous of the big six because over the course of a child's involvement in the sport, they suffer from "thousands to tens and hundreds of thousands of blows to the head." Injuries that occur repeatedly, he argues, "accumulate to cause cumulative brain damage."So instead of playing these high-impact sports, the doctor suggests that parents get their kids involved in noncontact extracurricular activities, like swimming, track and field, volleyball, basketball, baseball, badminton and tennis.Athletic trainer Christopher Bienkiewicz and director of physical therapy Dr. Caitlin Mancuso, both at SportsCare, argue that though "no sport is immune to concussions, "there is a lot that can be done to prevent them from happening. They said there is even more you can do to help minimize the effects concussions have on children."There are precautionary measures that schools and sports institutions can take to minimize risk of head injury," Bienkiewicz and Mancuso said in a joint statement. The measures include baseline testing before the season starts, which "can provide important information about changes in function when an injury occurs."They also said parents should get educated so that, if an injury does occur, they're ready to act. "Parents, coaches and athletes should all be able to recognize the symptoms of a concussion. There are instances where symptoms, (such as headache, confusion, nausea, slurred speech, etc.,) may not be apparent right away at the field, and will present after the athlete returns home." The team at SportsCare suggests referencing the Sport Concussion Assessment Tool, 5th Edition, or SCAT5. The SCAT5 is a useful resource for getting properly informed. The team also stressed that there are ways to teach players 바카라 게임 웹사이트� football players, especially 바카라 게임 웹사이트� how to play in a way that reduces the risk of concussion."Sports are a fundamental part of developing physical skills and social interaction in youth athletes," Bienkiewicz and Mancuso's statement concluded. "No matter the sport, understand the physical demands and skills that your child will have to learn. Do research on the quality of the sport program, coaching staff and injury management protocol to ensure that your child is in good hands and the staff is able to make safe decisions."The bottom line is this: Sports, especially the big six, are dangerous, and whether that risk is worth considering is entirely up to you.