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Sports Overuse Injury

Sports Overuse Injury

July 8, 2010 Updated Jul 8, 2010 at 4:03 PM EDT


Would you believe that 40% of all injuries at the emergency room for kids ages 5 to 14 are sports injuries? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it's true. Many of these injuries are simply from overuse. Some doctors say the problem is that too often both parents and kids believe the way to excel is to play just one sport, start young, and play all year long. Dr. Michael Busch, an Orthopedic Surgeon says "years ago you'd play baseball in the summer and football in the fall and basketball in the winter and do track and field or soccer or something in the spring. These kids just go from one baseball league to the next to the next- they play baseball all year round." Dr. Busch says that the year-long repetition is what's causing problems, "the tissues in the body are a lot like a paperclip. If you just keep bending it over and over and over again, eventually that paperclip is going to break." He says ideally kids should play a variety of sports. But, if they do specialize, vary the workout and take time off. Dr. Busch adds that you should "use pain as a guide. The body has this very intricate monitoring system for a good purpose, and that's what pain is."
Doctors say strength training is also a big part of injury prevention. They advise kids who specialize in one sport to model themselves on professional athletes by taking a season off, and spending part of the year cross training.

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