injury prevention

Overuse Injuries in Youth Sports: Half May Be Preventable

Repetitive stress on muscles and joints without adequate rest and appropriate conditioning can result in chronic or overuse injuries in athletes of any age. Experts believe that overuse injuries account for fifty percent of all youth sports injuries, but half may be preventable.

Children are especially vulnerable during the growth spurt at the beginning of adolescence.  The growth process can result in a unique set of injuries among young athletes, including Osgood Schlatter's disease and Sever's disease, Little League elbow, patellofemoral pain syndrome; and stress fractures caused by overuse and/or repetitive stress over time.

Here are five ways parents, coaches and athletes can help to reduce the number of repetitive stress injuries in children and adolescents.

1. Proper education and supervision.

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Player Safety in Youth Sports: Sportsmanship and Respect as an Injury-Prevention Strategy

 
The night was November 3, 1999, and the final seconds were ticking down in a junior varsity hockey game between bitter local rivals, New Trier High School and Glenbrook North High School, at the Rinkside Sports Ice Arena in the  Chicago suburb of  Gurnee. New Trier was  comfortably ahead, 7-4, in the teams' first encounter since Glenbrook North had edged them, 3-2, for the Illinois state junior varsity title a season earlier.[1] Junior varsity contests do not  normally  provide lasting memories in any sport, but this early-November game would be different.
 

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