Lyle Micheli, the youth sports medicine pioneer, estimates that of the 70 young patients who file into his clinic each Thursday at Children's Hospital Boston, 75% are victims of overuse injuries! Back in the early 1990s the figure was at about 20%.
These figures are astrounding, but are these numbers casued from kids pushing themselves too hard? Not according to Dr. John DiFiori, chief of sports medicine at UCLA's Comprehensive Sports Medicine Center. He claims that adults are the great enablers of overuse injuries, and that serious sports injuries didn't start emerging until parents started pushing their kids to limit.
So why do parents push their kids so hard? Perhaps their kid needs an athletic scholorship to go to college, or perhaps it's just for parent bragging rights, but either way, kids are pushed by their coaches and parents to win big and beat records. Every year sports records are set, and every year someone trys to break them. And everyone knows breaking a record means working harder than the guy who set it. I know Americans have a habit of wanting to be "the best", but I didn't know that being the best was worth the health of a child.
Nice post Bridget. I liked this especially because I've been subject to multiple sport related injuries myself, and looking back I'm certain that like you said, they're from overuse. Over the past decade or two, the amount of time athletes spend training has increased, and the number of olympic record breaks has also increased. Maybe all these child athletes loose sight of their health and can only see being the best at the end of the tunnel.
ReplyDeleteSport-related injuries in kids seems to be a perfect microcosm for the greater American value that you mentioned of being "the best". I don't play sports (lolz) but I have many friends who do. A friend of mine used to play soccer, gearing up towards a spot on a college team until she tore a muscle in her knee and could no longer play. As it turned out, she had started to hate soccer as early as her freshmen year in high school. But, out of pride of being the top player, she kept at it. We're seeing this theme of being the best right now as people register for classes. Who's taking the most APs? Who's sacrificing their lunch period to take another class and boost their college resume? In a sense, these students are also injuring themselves by "overusing" their bodies to the point of mental and physical exhaustion. This game we play, of trying to be the best, is a dangerous one and it doesn't seem like being the winner ever truly pays off.
ReplyDeleteWith more and more young children getting involved with sports the rise in youth sports injury has climbed through the roof. Repetitive motion injury is getting worse this article will explain why and how to prevent it.
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