A new study has found that 65 per cent of parents in the UK actively encourage their children to play sports, when it’s allowed with the ongoing restrictions, according to a survey conducted by pain relief experts at www.biofreeze.co.uk.

However, 19 per cent of parents don’t allow their children to take part in sport outside of school, due to fear of injury or because of the additional costs involved with having to buy kit and paying fees.

The questionnaire was sent out to almost 2,300 parents, who have children between the age of five and 15.

It was found that the majority of parents (58%) have children that partake in some form of sports outside of school, with Football (28%), Rugby (20%) and Gymnastics (18%) the most popular.

Asked to specify their reasoning behind the decision, 31% of parents said it is because they fear their children would be at risk of being injured.

A further 23% of parents admitted the cost of buying sports kit and paying monthly sporting fees deterred them from enrolling their children into sporting teams, while 14% fear their child would become too competitive playing sport and 11% simply do not have the time.

When asked if their child had ever been injured while playing sports, more than a quarter agreed with this statement.

The injuries stated included sprains (18%), muscle soreness (19%), dislocations (15%) and broken bones (10%).

The most common sports children received sporting injuries from were found to be Rugby (30%), Horse Riding (25%), Football (15%), Gymnastics (15%) and Trampolining (10%).

Netball (5%) was found to be the sport the lowest number of children received injuries playing.

Bharat Gohil, spokesperson for www.biofreeze.co.uk, said: “Sport is a fantastic way of getting kids out of the house and into the fresh air.

"Being part of a sporting team is a great way for them to develop social skills and be part of a team with their friends.

"There are always going to be concerns of them picking up an injury, that’s part and parcel of being a parent, but there are many things that children can do to prevent injury, such as warming up properly.

"There are many products on the market, such as Biofreeze, that can help to ease the symptoms and pain associated with minor injuries, such as sprains and strains. As a non-medicated solution, this is ideal for children.”