Sports Are Great For Children, Within Limits

Last week’s article focused on obligatory or excessive exercise which primarily applies to adults.

This week the focus is on children in sports. As we know, youth sports are huge – not only nationally, but in our little neck of the woods – Belmont Shore and Naples.

Most of us understand how great sports can be for a lot of reasons; one of the reasons is that it is hard  to get our children enough exercise without being in organized sports.

However, children can overdo it too, and it is up to their caregivers to know the signs of when it is too much and to give that child a rest.

In his book,  “Until it hurts: America’s obsession with youth sports and how it harms our kids,”  Mark Hyman states that “every year more than 3-5 million children under 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse.”

It is important to remember that children are not small adults and we adults need to help them monitor and even push them away from working out or playing sports if that’s what is required at that period of time.

Children are at increased risk for chronic injury because of a couple of reasons: they don’t have the same ability to separate and distinguish the kind of pain that chronic injuries such as tendonitis can bring on, their growing bones are more easily injured (stress fractures), and they may suffer from injuries particular to the pediatric population.

I urge you to remember that your children need to use those same legs (knees) and arms (shoulders) for decades to come. Since I teach kinesiology majors (almost 100% of whom are athletes), I see approximately three students per class going in and out of surgeries, not all of which are successful.

Right now, I have students expecting surgeries for an elbow, knee and hip in just one class and only one of them lasted in sports long enough to actually play his sport in college.

However, when I ask my students if they would do sports again if they had the chance, I rarely get someone who says no. So it is up to you, mom and dad, to regulate your child’s sports participation so they can stay physically active without pain well past their college years.

Here are some recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness: (http://aappolicy.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/pediatrics;106/1/154)

1)      Limit one sporting activity to five days per week with at least one day off from any organized physical activity to recover physically and psychologically.

2)     Athletes should have at least two to three months off per year from their particular sport during which they can let injuries heal, refresh the mind and work on strength and conditioning in hopes of reducing injury risk.

The following are more detailed guidelines (which include the aforementioned two) from the American Academy of Pediatrics which were created for pediatricians but are very practical for parents too:

1)      Athletes should not increase weekly training time, number of repetitions or total distance by more than 10% per week.

2)     Emphasize that the focus of sport participation should be on fun, skill acquisition, safety and sportsmanship.

3)     Athletes should only compete on one team at a time.

4)     If an athlete complains of muscle or joint problems, fatigue or poor academic performance, be alert for possible burnout.

5)     Convey a special caution to parents with younger athletes who participate in multi-game tournaments in short periods of time.

Overuse is one of the most common factors that lead to injury in the pediatric and adolescent athlete.

Parents should take caution when symptoms, including progressive fatigue; complaints of pain;  underperformance;  sleep disturbances;  poor school performance or lack of enthusiasm appear in their young athletes.

If any of these symptoms are displayed, it is recommended that the child see a pediatrician and be sure to let  the doctor know the child’s training regimen.

The cure to overtraining is getting rest and if it’s caught early enough, the necessary rest period will be shorter.

Again, parents need to be wise here because it is likely the youngster, who is used to an intense amount of activity, will not want to rest. 

So, perhaps some of you will decide it is a good idea to let your young athlete take a bit of a break this summer.  

This could mean taking the child's primary sport off and doing something different or lowering the training schedule of a sport.

Remember, the ultimate goal of youth sports participation is increasing the likelihood of lifelong physical activity.