Seeing school buses and hearing my local high school band practicing reminded me that school is back in session and along with it fall youth athletic programs. According to John Smoltz, former Braves pitcher, “Sports is about a lot of things, and it teaches you a lot about life. We want to bring back the fun and capability of children to play for a lot longer than they are.”
What Smoltz is referring to is the increase in sports injuries in middle and high school students. Annually 3.5 million children under the age of 14 suffer a sports injury. High school students incur 2 million injuries annually. Youth shoulder and elbow injuries are creeping toward epidemic proportions and ACL injuries remain one of the most common injuries. According to the STOP (Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) overuse is to blame for 50% of middle and high school injuries.
The STOP Sports Injuries campaign was initiated by the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) as a result of the growing problem of overuse injuries among young athletes.
While we want our children to succeed both academically and physically, we also want them to avoid injury so they can stay physically engaged throughout their lives. However sports are competitive and coaches may not always distinguish between a child who needs a little push and a child that is already pushing too hard.
One mother brought her son to me for massage because he was complaining of sore muscles. Every part of his body hurt and his muscles were riddled with trigger points. No child should be that sore. The young man, who was a freshman in high school and playing football confided to me that at 5 feet and 140 pounds, his coach was pushing him to gain another 40 pounds to play defense!
Since then I have worked with more than a few children who were living in constant pain from extreme training and overuse injuries. Over training can interfere with growth plate sealing and “diseases” like Osgood-Schlatter Disease, which is the most common cause of knee pain in children, and is simply an overuse injury.
My goal here is not to give you one more thing to worry about, but to provide a little insight so that if a kid you know complains about being in pain all the time you have resources. As they say, “Let’s be safe out there.”
Check out http://www.stopsportsinjuries.org for Tip Sheets, Conversation Starters and Injury Prevention Tips for parents, kids and coaches including tips for specific sports.
I hope the kids you know enjoy their upcoming season, play hard and win often!
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