Parents should encourage
cross-training, rest and stretching to prevent serious injury, U-M
physicians say
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Bobby Boyle
engages in serious year-round sports training and has had his share of
minor muscle injuries. When the 12-year-old athlete felt tightness in
the back of his thigh while sprinting at track practice, he and his
parents thought he pulled a hamstring and assumed it would heal with
limited exercise time.
“We asked Bobby to take it easy
for the week and not to go to his track practice. We wrote him a note to
skip that but we wanted him to go to soccer practice and just take it
easy,” says John Boyle, Bobby’s father. “So for the first week, he was
icing it, he was in the hot tub, he was stretching; but he wasn’t
getting any better.”
After two weeks of pain,
frustration and no improvement, Bobby’s parents took him to the
University of Michigan MedSport clinic, which is one of the only
pediatric sports injury programs in the United States. There, he was
examined by Laurie Donaldson, M.D., who diagnosed him with a potentially
serious growth plate injury to his pelvis and prescribed him six weeks
of complete rest.
“That diagnosis was pretty
shocking,” says Olabisi Boyle, Bobby’s mother. “He works out and tries
to stay in shape all year long. It was pretty devastating hearing that,
mostly because I know how hard he had worked for this season in
particular and now he was basically being told the entire season was
shot.”
Bobby participates in soccer, tennis, track and field, basketball and
cross country—often times playing on more than one team in one season.
Similarly, 45 million children participate in organized sports each year
in the U.S. Many of these children, like Bobby, are engaging in serious
sports training and specialization at younger ages, which makes them
more susceptible to potentially serious injuries.
Earlier year-round sports
specialization is likely contributing to the rise of overuse injuries.
“We’re seeing more serious
sports injuries at a younger age,” says Donaldson, sports medicine
specialist at U-M’s MedSport. “The concern is they are still skeletally
immature with open growth plates that are prone to injury.”
The growth plate is the area of
developing tissue near the end of a child’s bones and is the weakest
area of a growing skeleton. Once growth is complete around adolescence,
the growth plates become solid bone. An injury that would cause a sprain
to a ligament or muscular strain in an adult could cause a serious
growth plate injury that could effect physical development in a child.
Donaldson says growth plate
injuries are commonly seen at MedSport.
“Growth plate injuries can be
very serious, particularly if it’s a fracture in one of the long bones
because that can affect the growth of the bone,” says Donaldson, who is
also team physician for the USA Hockey National Team Development
Program. “If treated improperly, it can either grow too long or not long
enough.”
Donaldson says there isn’t one
sport that causes more injuries in kids. Each sport is unique to the
type of injury it can produce, depending on the body part most often
used. Half of pediatric sports injuries are related to overuse while the
other half constitutes ligament sprains, muscle strains and bruises.
Young females are eight times
more likely to suffer an anterior cruciate ligament tear in the knee and
are susceptible to the female athlete triad, where females have
disordered eating, causing menstruation to become irregular or stop
altogether and stress fractures from weakened bones.
On the mend
After completing six weeks of
rest, Bobby says he’s doing a lot better.
“Once I got off my restriction,
I started jogging a little, I had some lessons with my soccer coach, I
did rehab, I’ve been doing some exercises and lifting weights,” he says.
“I’m feeling a lot better and there’s no pain so that’s good.”
Bobby’s parents say they’ve
learned a lot about how to continue to encourage his sports
participation and protect him from potential injuries in the future.
“While it’s great these kids are
getting all this activity and getting all the fun and enjoyment and
success that they get out of doing well, there’s a potential downside if
you don’t really keep on them to make sure they’re training properly,”
says John Boyle. “I didn’t remember anything like this when I was their
age and it’s quite serious.”
Advice for parents
Donaldson says she encourages
kids to be active but provides advice for parents in order to protect
their children from potentially serious sports injuries:
Encourage play and fun rather
than competition under the age of six.
Discourage year round sport
specialization until after puberty, but rather encourage the “well
rounded” athlete. “We know that young athletes who participate in a
variety of sports play sports longer and have fewer injuries than those
who specialize in a single sport before puberty.”
Have children rest two or three
months out of the year from a specific sport to participate in cross
training.
Recommend a day or two of rest a
week from organized sports and training.
Make sure they stretch and warm
up appropriately to prevent growth plate injuries from lack of
flexibility.
Condition ahead of seasons and
follow the 10 percent rule—increase distance or participation by 10
percent a week, particularly if coming back from an injury.
Teach children not to work
through the pain of an injury because it could be a more serious injury
than originally assumed.
“With guidance from parents,
coaches, trainers, physicians and the sporting community, we can promote
safe sports for kids. I believe kids’ activity in sports is great for
life-long health reasons because it encourages them to be active for the
rest of their lives,” says Donaldson. “It’s good for teaching
socialization, teamwork and healthy competition that can lead to success
later in life.”
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