Childhood sports – out goes the fun, in come the injuries
June 29th, 2010 | By: Dr. Larry Greenblatt
There has been a significant increase in sports-related injuries, and athletes are burning out at escalating rates.
The benefits of physical activity for children are well documented: increased fitness, better stamina, sharper mental health, better sleep, and better team-building skills. However, over the past two decades there has been a significant increase in sports-related injuries, and athletes are burning out at escalating rates. If you think these problems are related, you are correct.
Thomas M. DeBerardino, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine, recently moderated an instructional course titled “Athletic Injuries in the Adolescent Athlete.” According to Dr. DeBerardino, adolescent sports-related injuries are on the rise, to the point of becoming what he calls “a silent epidemic.”
Some attribute the increase to the sheer numbers of children, especially those of grade-school age, who are actively engaged in youth sports. It’s estimated that 30 million to 45 million youths age 18 or younger participate in some form of athletics. On the Eastside, there are more than 8,000 participants in the Eastside Youth Soccer Association alone.
Overuse bears the blame
This epidemic is not simply the result of accidental trauma in a larger population. A majority of adolescent injuries are of the overuse type. Overuse injuries are caused by micro-traumatic damage to a bone, muscle, or tendon that has been subjected to repetitive stress without the time to heal or undergo the natural reparative process. This is especially evident in student athletes who play the same sport for much of the year.
Adults are familiar with golfer’s elbow, carpal tunnel syndrome, neck and low back pain, or plantar fasciitis. These aches start insidiously with a tiny nag and build to the point where they interfere with daily activities.
It’s similar for adolescents, except their musculoskeletal system is not fully developed—some parts don’t reach maturity until the late teens—and it can take less repetition for problems to occur. Athletic trainers frequently see issues associated with too much stress on developing growth plates (e.g., Osgood-Schlatter disease) and tendons stretched beyond their physiological capacity (e.g., pitcher’s elbow).
Pressures to participate, to be the best, to not be weak or timid can all contribute to ignoring an issue. Perhaps the most harmful of all is when the child is ignored by a parent or coach. Being told to get back in the game once a child identifies a problem can jeopardize the physical activity’s positive attributes.
The development of rules
Rules are created to keep people safe and healthy. Pitch counts in baseball and softball were established in response to the increase of upper-extremity injuries. Helmets and protective gear were mandated to prevent facial and body injuries in many other sports.
In 2009, the Washington State Legislature passed the Zackery Lystedt law, which requires school districts to develop policies for the management of concussion and head injury in youth sports.
These examples are the tip of the iceberg for rules and regulations. Yet without them, how can children’s safety be assured, and how do we address the increased cost of medical care attributed to sports injuries? Do we really need all the rules and regulations? The answer is yes. We’ve seen what happens without them.
The competition game
In years past, it was the rare athlete who competed in more than one sport or for more than one season at the middle and high school level. Athletes had time to heal, time to relax, and time for diversity between events. With many children now participating in sports year-round, and sometimes on multiple teams, simultaneously, the potential to overuse their body parts increases geometrically.
Competition to make elite teams, peer pressure to be successful, and the allure of attaining the rarest of economic goals—a scholarship or professional contract—pushes young athletes to levels that are potentially unhealthy and unsafe. Whether the push is from the athlete or from an outside source, too often it can have deleterious consequences, the least of which is burnout.
Sports-related burnout vs. the real world
Burnout is not new to the sports scene. For years, elite athletes have walked away in the prime of their career, frequently after injuries. It’s often expressed as the need to take time away from their game, to spend more time with the family, or to get their head on straight.
Results are no different outside of sports; we’ve all seen cases of job burnout or relationship burnout. In all these situations, people may experience physical breakdowns marked by fatigue, lack of enthusiasm, or pain symptoms.
The new goal in sports, as in business, is to have fun. Why? Because people in all walks of life are realizing that, in the pursuit of excellence, they’ve distanced themselves from fun. When it’s only about the goal, sooner or later the task of attaining the goal can become boring. Look to a first grader for the obvious: Boredom suppresses motivation. Bringing fun into the athletic arena makes sports something desirable to be part of and to repeat.
The goal of youth sports and physical activity
Positive reinforcement for the successful athlete is easy as they reach the pinnacle of their sport. The vast majority of children, however, do not make it to the top of the athletic pyramid, often defined as success. That’s why redefining success and providing ways to create and reinforce a strong foundation for lifelong physical activity is paramount. It’s up to parents and other advisers to let the youths in our community know it’s not all about winning.
The goal of youth sports, and all extracurricular activities, is to teach kids appropriate life skills and coping mechanisms, help them understand the lifelong benefits of physical fitness and healthy competition, and allow them to have fun in the process. This sets up children for the best chance of success in the adult world and creates healthier human beings along the way.
Want to know more?
For age-appropriate suggestions on how to avoid burnout in young athletes of all ages, visit http://life.familyeducation.com/sports/behavior/29512.html
To learn more about taking an active role in your child’s athletic activities, go to http://www.aacap.org/page.ww?section=Facts%20for%20Families&name=Children%20and%20Sports
