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Today we find the young athlete’s to be bigger and stronger, but for this they have to push themselves towards a hard and struggling life beforehand. For now the kids are increasingly likely to play their chosen game throughout the year with several sport camps and structured activities. But children spending more time on the field bring greater chances of several injuries and accidents.

Although sports participation provides numerous physical and social benefits, it also has a downside several sports related injuries. In the report of statistics it has been found that out of 2.6 million children 0-19 years old are treated in emergency department for each year for sports or recreational activities.

The Most Common sports related injuries in Kids:

Sports injuries generally range from scrapes and bruises to serious brain and spinal cord and brain injuries where most fall somewhere in between the two extremes. Here let’s look forward towards the basic injuries that happen:

1. Sprains and Strains: Sprain is basically an injury to the ligament, which connects the two or more bones at a joint and prevents excessive movement to the joint. Ankle sprain is very common for athlete injuries.

Strain usually occurs due to any sports or any event due to any kind of muscle or tendon injury. Muscle is generally composed of multiple tissues grouped together by a bundle of specialized cells when stimulated by nerve messages that causes contraction or any kind of movement. A tendon is a tough fibre that connects muscle to the bone. Muscle is any kind of important part that can be damaged very easily causing serious injuries.

2. Growth Plate Injuries: In certain sports and injuries, the growth plate is injured many a times. Growth plate is the developing region where tissues at the end of the long bones in the growing children and the adolescent. In adolescence sometimes it’s observed after the growth is complete the growth plate is replaced by solid bone. The long bones include the :-

• Metacarpals and phalanges(Hand)
• Radius and ulna
• Femur
• Tibia and fibula
• Metatarsal and Phalanges(Foot)

Professional consultation is very necessary if any such case of growth plate injuries happen to occur.

3. Repetitive Motion Injuries:

Several painful injuries such as stress fractures (that we call it a hair line fracture) and tendinitis usually occur due to overuse of tendons and muscles. Often it happens that these injuries are not shown up on X rays but they do cause pain and discomfort. Injured area responds to rest, ice, compression and elevation. Other therapies include crutches, cast immobilization and physical therapy.

4. Heat Related Illness:

Heat injuries are generally injurious and fatal. This problem is more prone to children than in adults as children perspire less than adults. They require a high core body temperature to trigger sweating. Keep checking of the weather and body conditions especially during the time of rigorous games or sports events. Heat related illness include:

• Dehydration( Loss of Body Fluids)
• Heat exhaustion includes nausea, dizziness, weakness, headache, pale and moist skin, heavy perspiration, weak pulse, dilated pupil.
• Heat stroke includes stroke, dizziness, and confusion, hot and dry skin and leading to vascular collapse.

5. Shoulder Injuries: 20% of the sports injuries include dislocations, sprains and strain.
6. Shin splits: Causes pain on the inner side of the child’s shinbone as a result of inflammation muscles that surround it.
7. Groin Strain: This kind of strain occurs when the child suddenly changes his or her direction while running.
8. Lower Back pain: This commonly affects children who engage in running, bicycling, golfing, tennis and baseball.
9. Pulled Muscle: Muscles behind the thighs called the hamstrings are more commonly affected to children involve in running, such as jogging, basketball, and soccer.

Pediatric sports medicine expert provides us with 10 basic tips for treating and preventing common sport injuries for Kids to keep the young athlete more on field than to keep them on side-lines:-

1. Talk with young Athlete: Make sure that the young athlete should understand that he or she should talk with the trainer and seek help if experiencing any kind of pain or something that does not feel right. Try to promote pain free sports and activities.
2. Get a Preseason Physical: A preseason physical or back to school physical is a great way to determine if a young athlete is fit to play. Sports physicals help to provide any kind of access to any areas of concern for athlete’s before they start an activity. This will prevent them from further injury during the play.
3. Encourage Cross training and a variety of sports: But it is being advisable to the kids to change their playing games or the sports that continuously put some kind of stress or strain on the same muscles and joints repeatedly. Parents should be concerned about limiting the number of teams their athlete is on a given time and changing up the routine regularly.
4. Stress on Warming up: Stretching is an important warming up activity that should become a habit for all athletes’ to practice prior to sports. Jumping jacks and stretches keep the body fit and sound.
5. Make sure they rest: Athletes of all ages should make sure to rest in between practices, games and events. A lack of sleep or muscle fatigue generally predispose an athlete to injury often. Common injury found in an athlete is overuse of muscles in sports and events.
6. Healthy, well balanced diet is important: It is very much important for the athlete’s to maintain a well-balanced diet of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins and to maintain a regular eating schedule. For instance have the breakfast, lunch and dinner around the same time in each day.
7. Emphasize Hydration: Heat related illness is serious concern especially to the athletes during hot and humid days. Parents should make their children having adequate amount of water prior to their child going to the field for any sport or event.
8. Get the Proper Equipment: Protective equipment like helmet, hats, gloves shoes are very important for injury prevention. Parents should talk with the coaches prior starting of the event so that they have adequate time to prepare their child.
9. Stress on proper techniques and guidelines: Emphasize more on the techniques and guidelines of the sports involved.
10. Recognize Injury: It is mostly important for the parents to recognize injury and get help early and take their children out of the play.

So over viewing the tips of preventing the child from any sport injury, it is always advisable to the parents to enroll their children to a recognized sports community or centre where proper Kids health care is taken along with sport techniques.

Contented by: Kidsorthopedic.com