Children’s Sports Injuries
HealthDay News
Kids' sports are becoming more like pro sports, at least when
it comes to injuries.
New research finds that serious injuries in young athletes
are happening more frequently, and at a younger age.
"This research basically adds to the current concerns
and climate that orthopedics have been seeing for probably the last
decade," said Dr. Richard Schultz, an assistant professor of surgery at
Texas A&M Health Science Center and chief of staff at Scott & White
University Medical Campus, at Round Rock.
"The incredible popularity and widespread nature of the
club sports or select sports create a level of year-round intensity and
single-sports efforts that can really lead to a lot of the overuse injuries in
these children," he said. Those types of injuries, "we used to never
see until they were late in high school or even college," Schultz said.
But because pediatric athletes are still growing and
developing, they are at a higher risk for injury than adult players.
The current research, being presented at the annual meeting
of the
More pre-high school students are sustaining shoulder
injuries serious enough to require surgery, the study found. That distinction
used to be reserved for older athletes.
And injuries to the anterior cruciate
ligament (ACL) are now being seen in 9- and 10-year-olds. Surgery to deal with
the injury can cause more lasting "growth plate disturbances;" growth
plates being the areas of developing tissue at the end of the body's long
bones.
Another study being presented at the meeting noted a rapid
increase in arm injuries in young pitchers, apparently the results of an
improper throwing motion. One of these injuries, "little league
elbow," seems to result when the athlete winds up and uncurls the body too
late before releasing the ball.
According to the first study, about 60 percent of 11- to
18-year-olds have sustained an injury due to the repetitive motion and overuse
of the elbow and shoulder.
The issues are complicated by year-round playing.
"Baseball is a good example. It traditionally has been a
spring sport, but now these children are playing baseball year round,"
Schultz said. "We're not seeing the selective stress distributed about
their body like we used to see in childhood athletes where they played baseball
for fun this month and next month was basketball and next season was football.
Stress would be placed in different areas of the child's body, allowing time
for recovery. There is widespread overtraining of children."
The experts agreed that players, parents and coaches need to
pay better attention to the needs of these developing bodies.
"The two key problems are the focus on a single sport
and the lack of expertise in coaching/training these kids from a physiological,
biomechanical, psychological and medical perspective," said Malachy McHugh, director of research at the Nicholas Institute
of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma at
The neural system needs many different types of activity to
develop motor control, he added. "In the past, the star athletes in high
school and college were adept at several sports and had a natural talent for
all sports," McHugh said. "Today I am amazed at how athletically
inept these athletes are when taken out of their single sport comfort
zone."
And training needs to match the developmental stage of the
child.
"Having a 12-year-old doing strength training is working
against the child's natural development. That is an age for working on
coordination and speed, which are best improved by a variety of activities
rather than one specialized activity," McHugh said. "Additionally,
the rigid application of rules and regimens at an early age suppresses natural
creativity. For the 5- to 12-year-old, free play is essential for stimulating
creativity."
More information
For more on preventing sports injuries in kids, visit the Nemours Foundation