Athletic Injuries commonly occur in kids because of a lack of proper conditioning for a sport.

When children mature and grow into early adulthood the drive to perform at a high level gives way to overuse injuries.  Most overuse injuries occur in the knee and ankle joints.  It is shown more than 80% of the overuse injuries can be prevented with proper conditioning, training, and prevention programs.

Youth (Ages 5-13 Years)

The cone structure of children varies significantly from an adult.  This age period is a time of rapid growth a children’s bones.  Health of these bones determine how a child grows and heals from an injury.  It is shown 15% of all fractures in children involve the growth plate.  The type of care that a child receives during an injury to the growth plate determines whether the bone deforms or not.

High School and Collegiate (Ages 14-22 Years)

High school and college students start to feel the higher level academic pressures and athletic workload during these ages.  The negative effects of sitting more to do school work and doing more sports practices multiply the risk of injury.  Athletic pressure to perform well plus missing conditioning and training sessions play a large role in getting injured.

Strength training is an absolute recommendation for these young adults because it will improve sports performance and prevent injuries.  To prevent injuries in this group of athletes physical therapists, coaches, and trainers must work closely together to develop a balanced, safe, and effective training program.

Typical Injuries

The typical injuries in this age group are higher level and a higher demand than the youth athletes experience.  Usually, one will see more joint damage, joint laxity, more severe muscle pain, tendonitis, and muscle strains.  These injuries take longer to heal than when these athletes were younger.

Treatment of Athletic Injuries

There are different phases of rehabilitation and training for a sports athlete of any age.

Resistance Training

It is important to test and strength train the injured and non-injured body parts.  This will create a more balanced recovery than the traditional way of just training the injured part.  It is important the athlete train the specific muscles and movement patterns for his or her sport.  Just training on machines will not work because it is too generic and boring.

Power Training

Strength training comes first and then the athlete must add speed to the movements and muscles he or she is training.  These advance the exercises and make them more sport specific.  The athlete must learn to accelerate and decelerate the muscles and bones to become more injury proof and perform better.

Aerobic and Cardiovascular Training

An athlete loses aerobic condition and strength when an injury occurs.  Usually, an athlete loses both heart and lungs stamina because they do less work and don’t even walk as much each day.  Therefore, endurance and strength training must be done together to get back to normal.

Movement Analysis and Functional Movement Screening

This is not done much at all.  The athlete will start strength training, cardiovascular training, and power training but, forget to have a movement coach analyze if he or she can move properly.  At least a Functional Movement Screen should be done that looks to see if the athlete can move and stabilize with good form.

Hopefully, as an athlete you never get injured.  But, if you do, make sure you get the right training and conditioning to get back even better than before.

Physical Therapy Connections, P.C.

www.PT-Connections.com

(719) 565-6678