Base Safety office urges Airmen to take precautions during sports activities Published Jan. 10, 2014 By Air Force Master Sgt. April Lapetoda 380 Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs SOUTH WEST ASIA -- "Stay safe." Two words many deployed service members hear nearly every time they speak with a loved one from home. Even perfect strangers send letters and cards saying, "Stay safe." One might expect that deployed service members face an array of hazards, which could cause them harm while deployed, but one of the leading risks for Airmen here are sports-related injuries, said Air Force Tech. Sgt. Michael Martin, 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Safety NCO in charge of investigations and inspections. During 2013, there were 345 ground safety mishaps reported here, said Martin. Of those, 121 were sports related. "That's cause for significant concern," said Martin. Sports-related injuries have an impact on more than just the injured individual. "When injuries occur in a deployed environment, transporting injured Airmen to appropriate medical facilities and providing a replacement for the deployed member often means significant costs to the Air Force," said Martin. "Additionally, it affects units at home station that have to fill deployments unexpectedly." Others agree. "From a commander's standpoint, if they lose an Airman due to a sports-related injury, that's a huge, unnecessary loss to their squadron," said Air Force Maj. Matthew Thomas, 380 AEW chief of flight safety. "That's one less person to accomplish the mission and other people have to accomplish their work." While sports-related injuries accounted for 35 percent of all reported ground safety mishaps here in 2013, basketball was the leading cause of those injuries, said Martin. One of the largest contributing causes to injuries on the basketball court is player contact. To help minimize the risk of injury from player contact, participants should maintain awareness of their proximity to others during the game, said Martin. "Before engaging in any sports activity, people should take a step back and think about the situation before participating," added Thomas. "Everyone wants to be a winner and you can still give it 100 percent, just take a moment to assess the reward versus the cost. Those few moments may make the difference between getting hurt or not." There are many risk factors that make injury during exercise more likely. Some of the major risk factors include excessively or rapidly increasing the duration, intensity or frequency of an exercise, extreme weather conditions, and use of incorrect athletic equipment, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. The most common sports-related injuries here included broken appendages, bumps, bruises, broken noses and ruptured Achilles tendons, said Thomas. These types of traumatic injuries are more likely to occur when people push themselves too hard and fast physically. "To build strength and endurance from exercise, you must slowly and gradually push your body beyond its limits," recommends the AAOS. "When you push too far too fast, the body is prone to traumatic injuries such as sprains and fractures. Many seasonal sports injuries happen when athletes rush their reconditioning and do too much too soon with bones, joints, tendons, ligaments, and muscles they ignored in the off-season." Through risk assessment and proper precautions, Airmen here can minimize the risk of sustaining sports-related injuries so they may still accomplish their deployed mission. "I would like all Airmen who are deployed here to understand the mission comes first and foremost," said Thomas. "They need to maintain focus on being at their work centers to accomplish their job the next day." Editor's note: This is part one of a two-part series focusing on safety.