Every year, millions of students participate in high school sports. Sometimes the pressure to play can lead to decisions that place the athlete at risk of additional injury with long-term effects. Don’t we all have an uncle that blames his trick knee on his high school football days?
Why should we pay attention to sports injuries in youth?
When a sports injury occurs, it is important to quickly seek proper treatment. High school injuries can cause problems that may well require surgery, ongoing care and chronic conditions as an adult and may lead to pre-mature arthritis down the road.
Teenage athletes are injured at a higher rate than college and professional athletes. High Schoolers and Rec league adolescents tend to not have the level of fitness and focused training that offer older athletes protection. Injuries that affect school-aged athletes are also often different from those that affect adult athletes; due to the fact kids are still growing.
Our bodies grow at different rates. Bones grow first and faster, which pulls creating tight muscles and tendons. This uneven growth pattern makes younger athletes more susceptible to muscle, tendon, and bone injuries. Also creating its own category of injuries known as osteochondrosis. This is where the faster growing bone gets pulled basically apart by the slower growing tendon left behind. The most common growing conditions are Osgood-Schlatter’s (knee) and Sever’s (heel). While not exclusive to growing athletes, it’s much more common due to activity.
Types of Sports Injuries
Injuries tend to fall into two basic categories: overuse (wear and tear) injuries and acute injuries. Both types include injuries to the soft tissues (muscles, tendons and ligaments) and bones.
Acute injuries are caused by sudden trauma, such as:
- collisions with obstacles on the field or between players
- sudden start and stops
- quick direction changes
- falls, “landing wrong”
Common acute injuries among young athletes include:
Overuse Injuries are those that occur gradually over time.
Not all injuries are immediate. Overuse injuries occur gradually when an athletic activity is repeated often or “incorrectly” that parts of the body do not have enough time to heal between activities. Examples include:
- elbow injuries in baseball players
- shoulders in swimmers and lacrosse
- legs in runners
These are just a few but every sport has a repetitive motion that can cause an overuse injury.
Common overuse injuries:
Another common overuse injury in young athletes happens to the bones. Insufficiency fractures aka stress fractures along with stress reactions. Bone is in a constant state of turnover—a process called remodeling. New bone develops and replaces older bone. If an athlete’s activity is too great, the breakdown of older bone occurs rapidly, and the body cannot make new bone fast enough to replace it. As a result, the bone is weakened, and stress fractures can occur—most often in the shinbone and bones of the feet. More common in female athletes.
Treatment for Sports Injuries
Whether an injury is acute or due to overuse, a youth athlete who develops symptoms that persist or that affect their athletic performance should be examined by a doctor. Untreated injuries could lead to worse injury and/or permanent damage. These injuries can last well into adulthood.
Athletes often downplay their symptoms in order to continue playing. Parents should be aware of the more common signs of injury, such as pain with activity, changes in form or technique, pain at night, making excuses and decreased interest in or ability to play.
Thorough examination, and if necessary, imaging tests such as an x-ray, computerized tomography (CT) scan, Ultrasound or MRI may be ordered to evaluate the bones and soft tissues.
Treatment will depend upon the specifics of the injury. May include a combination of rest or activity modification, physical therapy, strengthening exercises, and bracing. Laser and dry needling are well known in treating sports injuries.
