OVERUSE INJURIES IN CHILDREN By Amy C. Keating, PT, MSPT
The City of ROSwell is a small community but plays hard and serious when it comes to organized youth sports. The competition is tough and starts at a young age. This is a growing trend among American youth and has lead to what is known as sports specialization. Sports specialization is defined as participation in one sport year around. In past generations, children played a variety of sports throughout the year. The trend toward sports specialization in our youth has lead to a significant increase in overuse injuries. Overuse injuries are generally caused by repetitive submaximal loading of the musculoskeletal system without adequate rest. Children are a higher risk of overuse injuries with sports specialization due to the skeletal immaturity of their bodies. During high periods of growth there can be imbalances of muscle strength, joint hypermobility, bone density issues, and growth plate immaturity. These normal growth characteristics can place children in a high risk category for development of overuse injuries when playing the same sport year around. According to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine (2014), symptoms of overuse injuries may include: sore muscles, fatigue, depression, insomnia, weight loss, irritability, decreased mental concentration, and high blood pressure. The Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine (January 2014) categorizes risk factors for overuse injuries into intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic factors include: 48
growth related factors, previous injuries, prior level of conditioning, anatomic factors, menstrual dysfunction, and psychological development. Extrinsic factors are related to the training workload, competition schedule, equipment/ footwear, environment, technique, and psychological factors from adult and peer influences. Readiness to play a sport is another interesting topic that parents should consider. Children must have a certain degree of physical and cognitive development before they are adequately prepared to engage in the skills required of certain sports. Age alone cannot be used to determine this as children develop physically and cognitively at different rates. In conclusion, sports specialization has become wildly popular in organized youth sports. Unfortunately, this has lead to an alarming high percent of overuse injuries. This crisis has lead many of the nation’s premier orthopedic associations to publish research and statements warning parent’s of the danger of sports related overuse injuries. Amy C. Keating, PT, MSPT is a Roswell native and currently lives in Crabapple. She works as a physical therapist at A Step Ahead in Roswell. She received a BS in Biology from Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame and MSPT from University of North Georgia. asaphysicaltherapy.com
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