It’s National Youth Sports Week again. ‘Adopted to promote the values of sportsmanship, civility, respect, health, safety, fun, and physical activity among players and leaders, including parents, coaches, and officials.’
Last year I introduced this event in a post titled: Youth Sports Week which you can read HERE. In that post I mentioned that: “In today’s age of health and fitness, more and more kids are involved in sporting activities and although being part of a football, soccer, or a cheerleading team is an important rite of passage for many children. You as parents may be overlooking the importance of preventing injuries on and off the playing field in your children.”
I also mentioned that: “the majority, if not all, sports are good, provided that your children prepare appropriately.”
Why is that? Well, that’s because, since there are so many structural and physical developmental issues that need to be taken into consideration before your children engage in any type of sports, and without the proper preparation, playing any sport can end up turning into a bad experience.
I went ahead and gave you some suggestions on the proper, sport specific, warm up stretches, and strength-training exercises to help prevent sports injuries from occurring.
I then discussed the importance of proper nutrition and hydration to also help minimize the likelihood of sports injuries from happening.
I finished up with 10 tips to help ensure your child does not miss a step when it comes to proper fitness, stretching, training and rest that their bodies needs to engage in sporting activities.
This year for National Youth Sports Week, I’ve decided to give you the list of the top 10 most common sports injuries, some useful tips to minimize the chances of them from occurring , and if these injuries do indeed happen, tell you what you can do to help minimize any potential permanent damage. That way, not only will your child never miss a step and continue to enjoy all the physical activities they really enjoy doing, but also, so that your children won’t suffer from the same aches and pains you as an adult are now suffering from because of your past childhood sports injuries. All of which you will shortly read about below:
The Top 10 Most Common Sports Injuries:
1. Runner’s Knee:
Knee injuries comprise about 55% of all sports injuries. Torn ligaments and cartilage are the most common injuries. However, many knee problems are grouped into the category called ‘runner’s knee’, which includes a variety of aches and pains from a problem with your child’s kneecap. While it is common in children who enjoy running they are not the only ones afflicted by this common problem. ‘Runner’s knee’ also commonly affects children who engage in bicycling, swimming, cheerleading, football, basketball, and volleyball. ‘Runner’s knee’ occurs when the repetitive pounding and overuse leads to a misalignment that causes irritation and inflammation of the tendon below the kneecap and eventually begins to wear out the area under the knee cap and leads to a degenerative arthritis that is referred to as chondromalacia patella. Which literally means chondro= cartilage, malacia= softening, of the patella= knee cap.
2. Shoulder Injuries:
Shoulder injuries are next on the list and comprise about 20% of all sports injuries and include dislocations, sprains, and strains. Shoulder injuries are more common in children who engage in sports such as: tennis, swimming, weightlifting, baseball, and volleyball. Basically, any sports that involves a lot of overhead movement. These problems are usually due to repetitive overuse, which loosens the group of tendons and muscles that surround the shoulder, referred to as the rotator cuff, and causes the shoulder, neck and upper back to misalign. Symptoms may include pain, stiffness, weakness, and slipping in the shoulder.
3. Sprained Ankle:
Ankle sprains are next on the list and are more common in children who engage in sports such as: soccer, hockey, basketball, and volleyball. Basically, any sport that involves jumping, running, and turning quickly. These sudden movements can lead to twisting the ankle and possibly tearing tendons or ligaments.
4. Tennis and Golfer’s Elbow:
Elbow injuries are next and account for 7% of all sports injuries. Tennis elbow is caused by a degeneration of the tendon in the elbow due to repetitive impacts such as repeated backhand strokes in tennis. It results in pain on the outside of the elbow.
Golfer’s elbow, on the other hand, usually occurs on the inside of the elbow, although it can sometimes attack the outside too. The pain experienced is a result of swelling and inflammation of the area on the inside of the elbow where the forearm muscles attach to the upper arm.
5. Pulled Muscle:
The most commonly pulled muscles are the muscles behind the thighs called the hamstrings, and are more common in children who engage in sports involving running, such as: jogging, basketball, and soccer.
While the hamstrings are the most common pulled muscles, your children can pull many different muscles depending on the sport they are performing.
Not warming up properly, fatigue, lack of flexibility, weakness, and lack of proper hydration are the most common causes of a pulled a muscle.
6. Lower Back Pain:
Lower back pain is next on the list and more commonly affects children who engage in running, bicycling, golfing, tennis, and baseball.
While there are many types and causes of lower back pain such as: bulging or herniated discs which can cause pain to shoot down the leg (known as sciatica), the most common reason for sports-related back pain in children is a sprain / strain of the very complex joints, discs, ligaments, surrounding muscles, and delicate nerve roots of the spine usually as a result of improper stretching.
7. Shin Splints:
Shin splints is a condition that causes pain on the inner side of your child’s shinbone as a result of an inflammation of the muscles that surround it.
They often affect children who, aren’t used to exercising, increasing the intensity of their workouts too fast, wearing worn-out shoes or by jumping or running on hard surfaces.
8. Groin Strain:
A strained groin usually happens when your child suddenly changes directions while running. They occur more commonly in sports such as: soccer, hockey, basketball, racket sports, football, and volleyball. Symptoms include sharp pain, swelling and sometimes even bruising on the inside of the thigh.
9. Concussions:
A concussion is an injury to the brain that is usually the result of a blow to the head. Symptoms can include: disorientation, vision disturbances, headaches, dizziness, amnesia, loss of balance, difficulty concentrating, and nausea. Concussions are most common in contact sports, such as: football, boxing, hockey, and soccer. However, they also occur in sports like skiing, cheerleading, and gymnastics.
10. Neck Sprains:
Neck strains are last on the list and similar to concussions are most common in contact sports, such as: football, boxing, hockey, soccer, skiing, cheerleading, and gymnastics. They are a result of a sudden forced movement of the head or neck. Commonly referred to as ‘whiplash’, the sudden ‘whipping’ motion injures the very complex joints, discs, ligaments, surrounding muscles, and delicate nerve roots of the spine. The muscles in the injured area then react by tightening up causing more neck pain and stiffness.
What can you do to prevent the injuries listed above?
First, since most sports injuries are due to either an improper warm-up or stretching routine or because the level of intensity of the workout was increased too quickly, the best way to avoid sports injuries that can keep your child out of the game for weeks or months is to have them stretch adequately before and after their workouts, and to pace themselves according to their level of skill and experience in their chosen sport.
In addition to warming-up properly, sport specific routine stretching, and proper pacing, I’ve listed some helpful tips to prevent each of these top 10 most common sports injuries below:
1. Runner’s Knee:
Try replacing your child’s shoes and insoles regularly. Choose a softer running surface such as an indoor track rather than hard pavement. Strengthen your child’s thigh muscles. Take more rest days between workouts. Cross train to prevent overuse.
2. Shoulder Injuries:
Shoulder injuries occur most often when your child hasn’t used their shoulder muscles in a while. (Such as during your baseball league’s off-season.)
So, be sure they strengthen their muscles through weight training before the season begins.
3. Sprained Ankle:
Strengthening your child’s ankles by having them do exercises such as ankle lifts on stairs, as well as taping their ankles or wearing a lace-up brace can help prevent any sudden movements that can lead to them twisting thier ankle and possibly tearing tendons or ligaments.
4. Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow:
The best way to prevent these two ailments is to perform forearm-strengthening exercises, such as: wrist curls,reverse wrist curls,squeezing a soft rubber ball, and improving your child’s swinging techniques.
5. Pulled Muscle:
The best way to prevent pulling a muscle is to: stretch properly before and after any sports activity or any exercising, make sure your child is properly hydrated, and avoid any sports activity or performing any exercises when they are fatigued and weak.
6. Lower Back Pain:
The best way to prevent a lower back injuries in your children from occurring is to make sure they: warm up properly before any sports activity or exercising, stretch properly before and after any sports activity or exercising, make sure your child is properly hydrated.
7. Shin Splints:
Wearing good shoes, cross training, stretching, and not increasing workout intensity too quickly are the best preventive measures for shin splints from occurring.
8. Groin Strain:
As with most sports injuries, the best way to prevent a groin pull is to have your child stretch properly before exercising. They can use following video on how to do the proper groin stretches, that I found at LiveStrong.com titled: How to do groin stretches. Also, gradually increasing the intensity of an activity rather than jumping right into it too quickly will also help prevent these injuries as will strengthening the groin muscles.
9. Concussions:
The best way to prevent concussions is to avoid contact sports, however, if that isn’t an option obviously the proper use of any protective head equipment is a must.
10. Neck Sprains:
The only way to prevent neck sprains just like concussions is to avoid contact sports.
What you can do if these injuries do happen.
1. Runner’s Knee:
If your child injures their knee, apply ice for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible this will reduce any swelling in your child’s knee and don’t have them exercise for at least two days. After two days if their knee is all better then they can try and resume their workouts, just be sure they warm up properly first and also apply some ice to their knee for 20 minutes after exercising to prevent any further swelling.
2. Shoulder Injuries:
If your child does injure their shoulder, apply ice for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible this will reduce any swelling and rest it for two days. Following the two days of resting, start them doing the following downloadable pdf file of the proper shoulder range of motion exercises that I have included HERE from OhioHealth online. These will minimize the possibility of a condition called adhesive capsulitis or ‘frozen shoulder’ from occurring.
3. Sprained Ankle:
If your child does sprain their ankle apply ice for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible to reduce the swelling. Completely rest and elevate it for only one day. Then, following this day of complete rest and elevation, have them begin to gently moving their ankle in all directions. This will help start to get better circulation, help to reduce further swelling, and most importantly, help to prevent the likelihood of any potential shortening of the damaged tendons and ligaments that can then lead to a future chronic ankle problem.
4. Tennis or Golfer’s Elbow:
If your child develops either one of these aliments apply ice to the area for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible to reduce the inflammation for two days. Take a 1 week break from the sport or the repetitive motion. Wear a ‘tennis’ elbow brace for 4 weeks upon resuming the sport or repetitive motion.
5. Pulled Muscle:
As with most injuries, applying ice for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible will reduce any swelling and inflammation in your child’s injured muscle. In about two days, after most of the swelling goes down and your child’s injured muscle has begun to heal, they can then begin some gentle stretches and start exercising again, but have them stop every so often during their workout to stretch until they are completely healed.
6. Lower Back Pain:
Since your child’s spine is such a complex and important structure that directly affects your child’s delicate nervous system. Lower back pain even from a pulled muscle or back spasms requires appropriate professional treatment. If lower back pain or an injury does occur in your child you can help minimize any damage by immediately applying ice on the area for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible to help reduce any swelling until you can get your child to the appropriate professional care.
7. Shin Splints:
As with most injuries, applying ice for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible will reduce any swelling and inflammation followed by the following stretches of the lower legs, that I found in an ezine article titled: Shin Splint Stretches – Top Three Shin Splint Stretches to Stop Your Pain.
8. Groin Strain:
Apply ice for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible to reduce swelling and inflammation. Don’t let your child do anything too strenuous for one to two weeks after these injuries. When they resume exercising, apply ice to the affected area after their workout until healed. When they are feeling better, start a stretching and strengthening program.
9. Concussions:
Any head injuries should never be taken lightly and an appropriate professional care should be sought in order to properly evaluate the severity of a any type of head injury. Treating a concussion however simply involves resting and refraining from playing any contact sports from anywhere from a day to a few months depending on the severity. As, returning to play too quickly can result in second impact syndrome, a potentially fatal condition.
10. Neck Sprains:
Since your child’s neck is such a complex and important structure that directly affects your child’s delicate nervous system. Neck sprains requires appropriate professional treatment. If a neck sprain does occur in your child you can help minimize any damage by immediately applying ice on the area for 20 minutes every hour as often as possible to help reduce any swelling until you can get your child to the appropriate professional care.
When should you seek professional treatment for a sports injury?
I already mentioned that: concussions, lower back pain , and neck sprains require the appropriate professional care, however, in addition all other injuries that do not completely self resolve within 2 weeks should be evaluated by an appropriate health care professional.
I hope you found this post useful and it served it’s purpose of informing you about the top 10 most common sports injuries, gave you some useful tips to minimize the chances of them from occurring , and if any of these injuries do indeed occur, informed you about what you can do to help minimize any potential permanent damage. This way, not only will your child never miss a step and continue to enjoy all the physical activities they really enjoy doing, but also, so that your children doesn’t suffer from the same aches and pains you as an adult are now suffering from because of your past childhood sports injuries.
As always, I welcome any of your thoughts concerning this subject. So, if you’d like to, just to leave a comment below.
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