Orthopedics Can Help Prevent Adolescent Sports Injuries

It seems that more kids than ever are playing more sports and at younger ages than before. Parents are good to encourage their youngsters to become involved in team sports at an early age. Team sports build character and help individuals learn lessons about playing fair, winning, losing, and even lessons about things that have nothing to do with how well you can throw a ball or hit a hockey puck. However, along with the increase in adolescent popularity, many specialists in orthopedics are finding an increase in sports injuries among kids.

Each sport is a little unique in its particular demands on one or more parts of the body. Pitchers obviously spend a lot of time and energy repetitively moving their arm in the same way over and over and over again. Goalies have to be much more flexible and limber than some other athletes as they contort themselves to fill the net. Soccer players have an incredible level of stamina. Football players are hit over and over again and are very vulnerable to concussions and other head injuries.

There are two different types of sports injuries commonly described by professional healthcare physicians that specialize in orthopedics. Macrotrauma refers to overt injury of a muscle or part of the body due to trauma. This is common in sudden football tackles or falls during downhill skiing. Microtrauma is a term that refers to muscle trauma due to repetitive overuse of one or many muscle groups. The pitcher that throws over and over again for hours in the backyard may be subjecting his arm to microtrauma.

While sporting officials and orthopedics specialists have encouraged the use of more and better protective equipment, macrotrauma injuries are becoming more rare. On the other hand, repetitive coaching drills and the tendency for a particular child or student to practice to excel in one position on the team make for an environment that increases microtrauma.

Instead, orthopedics specialists are suggesting that we do the opposite. Instead of encouraging a child to be good at one sport or one position within that sport, encourage the child to play a variety of sports and a variety of positions. In this way, you will inhibit the tendency toward microtrauma and the child will have better balanced muscle groups. These balanced muscle groups will be able to compensate for each other and prevent injury.