Kid Athletes Also Require Conditioning Proper Training Reduces Injuries, According To Report By Surgeons

Yep, kids do the darndest things every day, like visiting emergency rooms with injuries from the games they play. Several thousand children per day in America - 750,000 a year - end up at the hospital due to sports activities.

Some of these hospital visits are bound to happen in any case, especially in contact sports like football. But a “Play It Safe” campaign instituted this summer, sponsored by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, among other organizations, is aimed at decreasing the youth disabled list.

The numbers are staggering and somewhat surprising. According to research by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, basketball produces the most injuries, requiring more than 220,000 5-to-14-year-olds to make a trip to the emergency room, followed by football (178,000-plus), baseball (169,000-plus) and soccer (nearly 69,000).

Seventy-five percent of the basketball injuries occur during informal play, while football and baseball mishaps occur in a 2-1 ratio in pickup games rather than sponsored activity.

While no one is recommending children be kept from informal play, the “Play It Safe” campaign is urging parents to make sure their kids are properly outfitted even for playground games, and that youngsters know how to use their equipment. But even more critical to the campaign is the physicians’ push for proper conditioning.

“Many injuries occur due to inadequate training,” said Dr. William J. Robb III, an orthopedic surgeon, who specializes in knee reconstruction at Evanston and Glenview Hospitals. “Every sport requires some form of preparation. They just can’t jump into it without risk of injury. Kids, like any athletes, need to handle the impact loads and repetitive stresses of sports.”

Robb said there are some “classic cases” of kids whose bodies are not ready for the next level of competition. Consider the high school freshman who spends his summer relaxing up at the lake with the family or maybe kicking around the neighborhood with friends rather than doing enough running, weight training and flexibility work to be primed for the usual two-a-day football practice in late August.

“Suddenly, a lot of young men start showing up in orthopedic offices with sore legs, knee problems and stress fractures,” said Robb. “Most of the injuries are preventable if the players can start a conditioning program earlier in the year.”

An adequate warmup and post-workout stretching is often overlooked for children. In fact, the tendons, ligaments and muscles of young people can be quite susceptible to acute injuries such as sprain (partial or complete tear of a ligament), strain (partial or complete tear of a muscle or tendon), fractures and bruises.

Kids may be even more vulnerable than adults. Growth plates, the areas of developing cartilage where bone growth occurs in youngsters, are more susceptible to serious injury than nearby ligaments and tendons. What might be a bruise or sprain in adults can be a more serious growth-plate injury for a child.

The “Play It Safe” campaign recommends parents and coaches make sure kids are warmed up before playing - and not push kids too quickly into competition.

For example, Robb cited the 12-year-old who plays tennis well enough to attend regional tournaments and starts practicing 4 hours a day instead of her usual 90 minutes.

“She could easily overwork her joints with a series of tiny muscle tears and bone fractures,” Robb noted. “Parents and coaches need to recognize the symptoms of overuse injuries.”

Robb said the growing number of youth sports injuries is in no small part influenced by America’s huge interest in professional sports.

“Sport is play,” said Robb. “Play implies fun. With that, you have a basic triangle of sports, play and fun. But many youth sports situations fall into patterns outside the triangle due to behaviors they see among the pros. Kids end up with unrealistic expectations of themselves and are encouraged by a good number of pushy parents and overly demanding coaches.”

For a free brochure, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to “Play It Safe,” American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, P.O. Box 1998, Des Plaines, Ill., 60017, or call (800) 824-2663.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ON THE LOOKOUT Do’s, don’ts and problem signs: Do allow kids enough rest days to recover from hard workouts, especially sports that require a constant throwing motion. Don’t force kids to play through pain. All exercisers experience some muscular discomfort, but it shouldn’t last more than two days if the body is rested. If pain persists, especially in the body of a developing child, it’s time to check with a physician. Problem signs: It’s time for a child’s sports injury to be medically examined when there is: An inability to play following an acute or sudden injury. Decreased ability to play because of chronic or long-term complications following an injury. Visible deformity of an athlete’s arms or legs. Severe pain from acute injuries that prevent the use of an arm or leg.