Article just out on increasing number of pediatric sports injuries - from strains and sprains to tendon tears and fractures that need surgery to repair - it's the focus of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, which is meeting in San Francisco Friday and Saturday.
[quote]It's a new enough phenomenon that few national numbers on sports injuries in children exist, but anecdotally, doctors say in recent years they've seen an explosive increase in injuries that once were associated mostly with pro athletes.[/quote]
The sports with the highest injury rates for children:
For girls: soccer, basketball, gymnastics
For boys: ice hockey, football, soccer
[quote]
Common sports injuries in children:
-- Tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee
-- Swimmer's shoulder
-- Weakening of the cartilage in the elbow, known as Little League elbow
-- Pain at the kneecap
-- Shin splints
-- Sprained ankle
How to prevent injury:
-- Limit playing time, especially in sports that require repetitive motion. For example, baseball pitchers should limit how many pitches they throw in a week, and swimmers should limit their hours in the pool.
-- Cross-train. Instead of playing one sport 12 months a year, take three or more months to play something else and give the body time to rest and recover.
-- Build muscle. Girls especially need to make sure their muscles are equally built so they don't put too much strain on joints.
-- Learn proper technique. Just learning how to jump and land correctly can prevent a significant injury.
-- Rest. If something hurts, see a doctor and lay off the activity that's causing pain.[/quote]
"The growing pains of childhood sports injuries"
[quote]"When I was a resident, back in the late '90s, we were taught that these injuries didn't occur in children, and that's clearly not the case anymore," said Dr. Jim Policy, an orthopedic surgeon at Oakland Children's Hospital. "More and more kids are involved in organized sports, and even 10 years ago, the level of competition was nothing compared to what it is today."
Drawing special concern from doctors are the more serious injuries: tears of the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, which stabilizes the knee; damage to an elbow ligament that is so severe it needs replacement using a procedure known as Tommy John surgery; strains and sprains that are minor at first, but eventually lead to recurrent and severe injuries.
About half of sports injuries in children are from overuse - think Little League pitchers or high school swimmers who make the same motions over and over. Adult bodies can often take the strain of constant use, but younger bodies, especially pre-adolescents who haven't finished growing, are more vulnerable to injury.
The typical treatment for such injuries is rest from the sport, although it can be tough to convince children, and even their parents, to take a few weeks off. Young athletes see their pro heroes work through pain and sometimes lose sight of the difference between a pitcher who throws fastballs for a living and their own desire to make their Little League all-star team, said Dr. Mark Davies, assistant chief of the department of orthopedics at Kaiser San Jose.
Parent and coaches can lose perspective too, he said.
"You have one kid who's your best pitcher, and you want your team to win and the kid wants to pitch," Davies said. "There's this short-sightedness. Children want to be the next A-Rod, and you're doing the worst thing you could for them by pushing too hard."
Studies have shown that as many as a quarter of young athletes have been injured. Part of the problem, sports medicine doctors say, is that youth sports have become explosively popular in the past 10 or 20 years, and coaching and preventive medicine haven't caught up with the growth.[/quote]
You don't have to look too far to find that attitude of practicing/competing through pain in gymnastics unfortunately...
Bad training increases injury risk:
[quote]For boys, the highest-risk sports are ice hockey, football and soccer; for girls, soccer, basketball and gymnastics. Girls are particularly vulnerable to injury, in part because they only fairly recently started playing sports at the same competitive levels as boys, doctors say. Girls' bodies are different from boys, and they are more prone to certain injuries, especially knee injuries.
It's crucial, doctors say, that girls learn how to properly train to avoid injury - that could mean strength training to keep their muscles in balance, or practicing how to jump and pivot in ways that reduce the strain on fragile joints.
But most youth coaches haven't learned these techniques, say doctors and physical therapists.[/quote]
Sports specialization can add to risk of over-use injury:
[quote]Children are starting to specialize in one sport at a much earlier age than they used to, doctors say. Twenty years ago, it wasn't unusual for young children to play several sports throughout the year, and even high school athletes would play two or three sports.
Sport specialization can hurt
Specializing in one sport puts a lot of repetitive strain on the body. Simply switching to another activity for a few months - something that uses different muscles - can reduce injuries, doctors say.[/quote]
Ahsha Smith, 17 years old, ACL injury from playing soccer, not uncommon:
[quote]"I've never really thought about not playing soccer," Ahsha said. "It's unfortunate that I hurt myself, it's unlucky, but I still want to play no matter what."
Ahsha's injury is so common that when she was hurt, her family knew right away what was wrong, and they got referrals to specialists from other parents of young soccer players. Last year, Ahsha's sister was playing a college soccer game, and three of the players were sidelined with braces on their knees - all from ACL injuries.
"It looked like a war was going on," said Ahsha's mother, Lisa Smith. "If Ahsha doesn't come home from a practice on time, I'm calling, wondering if she's OK, if she's hurt herself. It's not right, what's happening. You wonder sometimes if it's worth it."
[/quote]
Any one else have a soccer team with that many injuries? Seems extreme.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/MN47VF2V8.DTL&tsp=1
Posted under "All Sports - Daily Thread" forum too:
http://www.gymchat.com/messageboards/viewtopic.php?p=30361#30361
