With over 38 million children and adolescents competing in organized sports throughout the United States each year, sports injuries can be a common experience.
Below are some tips to help you help your child prevent common sports injuries:
1. Have your child complete an annual sports physical before competition. As a precautionary measure, it is always a good idea to have your child complete an annual sports physical examination to ensure their health, safety and readiness to compete in their sport of choice. While often routine, this examination provides you and your child’s doctor the opportunity to detect or clear any potential health or fitness challenges.
2. Be sure your child is enrolled in an organized sport that provides effective equipment and supervision. It is always a good idea to check the quality of equipment that may be issued to your child. Also, always check on coach’s certifications and experience in handling emergencies (CPR and First Aid certifications are a must).
3. Talk to your child about having fun as well as being safe. It is a good idea to talk with your child about the proper use of equipment in a competitive and or recreational sport-(e.g. wearing shin guards in soccer, buckling chin straps on helmets for football, wearing helmets when batting in baseball) are examples of proper usage of equipment.
4. Encourage your child to participate in strength and conditioning exercises before competing in competitive sports. Exercises such as resistance training-utilizing body weight, resistance tubing or light dumbbells can help strengthen your child’s muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons to help prevent potential injury. Be sure to provide proper supervision (personal trainer, coach or at home) when your child is performing these movements.
5. Ensure your child is receiving appropriate warm-up and cool-down before and after their activity. To help prevent some of the most common injuries for children and teens-strains and sprains-it is crucial your child receives a proper warm-up before their activity begins. This includes a few minutes of moderate cardiovascular activity as well as dynamic movements (such as arm swings, ankle rolls, walking lunges, leg swings, straight leg walks, torso rotations) to prepare the body for its eventual activity. Also, after training, practice or a game, encourage your child to stretch their muscles-performing static stretches-holding the movement for 15-30 seconds without bouncing-(such as hamstring. quadriceps, shoulder, back stretches)
6. Encourage your child to drink adequate amounts of fluid before, during and after their practice or game. The amount of fluid your child should consume will depend upon the duration or length of their practice or game. Generally, encourage your child to consume 16-20 ounces water two-three hours before their activity. Also, encourage your child to consume 8-10 ounces of water 15 minutes before activity. During exercise, encourage your child to drink 8-10 ounces of water every 10-15 minutes during the activity. If your child is exercising longer than 60-90 minutes you can also provide a sports drink (with no more than 8 percent carbohydrate) every 15-30 minutes. After exercise a good method to determine if your child is receiving adequate hydration after a practice or game is to weigh them and see if their weight is below or above their normal weight. A good rule of thumb is to consume 16-24 ounces of water for every pound of fluid lost.
7. Encourage your child to participate in multiple sports and activities throughout the year to avoid repetitive motion challenges. Many children participate in the same sports throughout the year (e.g. baseball, soccer, basketball). Unfortunately, performing the same movement patterns can create repetitive motion issues to shoulders, elbows, knees and other joints leaving your child susceptible to further injury. The best way to avoid these issues is to encourage your child to participate in multiple sports or activities, which utilize different muscles groups and movement patterns. This ensures their safety, as well as creates a more well-rounded, athletic and happier young athlete.
Always encourage your child to eat healthy and move their body regularly-as building a strong body is the best way to create a healthy life as well as prevent most sports injuries!
Lastly, encourage your child to have a blast playing the sports they love!
Here’s to your family’s health and fitness!
Coach Sean
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