May 2010 Newsletter

Archived Newsletters

STOP Sports Injuries
By Dr. Stephen A. Hunt

Last Month, Dr. James Andrews, the president of the American Orthopaedic Society of Sports Medicine, launched a campaign to reduce sports injuries in the youth population. While the majority of most sport medicine specialist’s patients include high school, college, and professional athletes, there has been a rising trend of significant injuries in the athletic youth population, many of which are preventable. In a given year, 3.5 million American kids under the age of 14 will be treated for sports injuries. Nearly 50% of injuries to middle and high school athletes are classified as overuse injuries – clearly a preventable problem. There are multiple reasons for this trend, but the obvious one is the increase in intensity, duration, and focus on one sport by young athletes, their coaches, and their parents.

Below are some of the common overuse injuries we see:

Baseball:	Little Leaguer’s Elbow Little Leaguer’sShoulder	Football:	Low back pain Patellar tendonitis
Soccer:	Shin splints Stress Fractures Ankle tendon injuries Hip and Groin strains	Volleyball:	Patellar tendonitis Shoulder tendonitis
Cheerleading:	Wrist injuries Patellar tendonitis	Tennis:	Wrist tendonitis Elbow tendonitis Shoulder tendonitis
Running:	Shin Splints Stress Fractures Hip tendonitis	Swimming:	Shoulder tendonitis
Gymnastics:	Wrist tendonitis Low back pain	Dance:	Low back pain Hip and Groin strains Ankle and foot tendonitis Stress fractures
Basketball:	Patellar tendonitis	Lacrosse:	Shin splints Patellar tendonitis
Softball:	Elbow tendonitis Shoulder tendonitis

Because of the young athlete’s skeleton is immature, they are prone to overuse problems where their tendons insert into bone such as Osgood-Schlatter Disease (patellar tendon) and Sever’s Disease (Achilles tendon). Additionally, traumatic injuries can occur in all of these sports such as ACL tears of the knee and concussions. Other injuries may be the result of trying to exert too much force when the body is not quite ready to generate it – compromising technique for speed and velocity. The latter is a common source of problems for little league pitchers.

In addition to having a painful injury and missing time from a sport, these injuries in young athletes can affect their careers. There is a perception that in cases where surgery is needed, it is a quick fix and the athlete can return quickly to their sport. However, the reality of this situation is that if your child has surgery as a young athlete for an overuse injury, the chances of them making it to an elite level are not very good.

While it will never be possible to eliminate all injuries from youth sports, our goal is to reduce and avoid injuries whenever possible. Limiting practices and games as well as number of teams and seasons a young athlete competes in can help reduce the frequency of overuse injuries. Adequate training and rest are key and relatively simple components of keeping young athletes healthy and ensuring great athletic careers.

For more information on this topic, check out the AOSSM website for this:
www.STOPSportsInjuries.org

REFERENCES:
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, AAOS Now, 2009.

American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine. Prevention and emergency management of youth baseball and softball injuries. 2005.

Campbell JD, Boden BP. Cheerleading injuries. Sports Medicine Update September/October 2008.

Griffin LY. Prevention of noncontact ACL injuries. American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

Wolf BR. Injuries in swimming. Sports Medicine Update. July/August 2009.