Study finds 150 percent rise in student injuries

CHICAGO (AP) - A movement encouraging more vigorous exercise in schools could be tempered by a new study that says injuries to American children during physical education classes have jumped.
    The study’s senior author says injuries increased by 150 percent from 1997-2007. But Lara McKenzie of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, also points out the increase may have more to do with lack of adult supervision than lively gym programs.
    There’s also been a decline in school nurses and class sizes have increased.
    McKenzie says the benefits of physical education classes outweigh the risks, but “being healthy doesn’t have to hurt.“
    The study appears in the September edition of Pediatrics. It suggests schools should renew their efforts to make gym class safer.