Temp: 63.0F
More info

 Email this page  Print this page  Feed

Subscribe to Alameda Magazine : Health and Wellness

Kids in Sports

The Doctor is in

How Much Is Too Much?

     More than 30 million children participate in organized sports each year across the United States. Over the past two decades, there has been a surge in the number of sports opportunities available to young athletes including year-round sports, traveling teams and Olympic development camps. With media attention drawn to young superstars like gymnast Shawn Johnson and basketball star LeBron James, expectations of young athletes are on the rise. Despite superstar dreams, less than 0.5 percent of athletes will reach Olympic status, so sports participation should focus on being fun while fostering physical, mental and social development.
     Awareness of a child’s neurobehavioral development can help guide the process for appropriate sports participation. Hand-eye coordination for catching or hitting a ball develops throughout childhood with most fundamental motor skills established by age 10. Children are able to compare their abilities to others around age 6; many understand the competitive nature of sports around age 9, and by age 12, they have the cognitive skills to begin to recognize the complex tasks required of certain sports. Pushing a young child who is not developmentally ready will not make him or her a “better athlete” or mature at a faster rate, but may instead cause injury or discourage him or her from further sports participation.
     Although physicians, parents and coaches should promote healthy activity and participation, intense training at a young age can predispose exuberant young athletes to certain difficulties. Elite young athletes are at risk for overuse and growth-plate injuries. Gymnasts may endure wrist and back injuries from repetitive training mechanisms. Swimmers may suffer shoulder problems due to excessive mileage in the pool. Foot and leg stress fractures can occur in young runners, soccer athletes and basketball players who are training too intensely. Young baseball pitchers and catchers can experience shoulder and elbow pain with excessive throwing. Baseball is one of the few sports to come forward with expert opinions regarding limits on training and throwing. Pitching limits may help to prevent some of these baseball overuse injuries. Parental involvement, along with recognition of injury signs and a subsequent decrease in the intensity and amount of training can help to prevent or decrease injury in young athletes.

What to Watch For

     As your young athlete matures, it’s important to watch for any signs of excessive physical or emotional stress related to sports participation. Here are a few indicators to keep in mind in being in touch with your budding athlete’s emotional and physical well being that may indicate backing off is appropriate. Know that physical symptoms or injures that are slow to heal may represent excessive psychological stress. And if an athlete misses more than 10 percent of a sports season due to injury, consider whether overtraining is to blame.
•    Skipping practices or games
•    Unhappy around practices or games
•    Injury
•    Sequential, repetitive or frequent injuries
•    Falling school grades
•    No interest in other activities
•    Avoiding family and friends
•    Excessive fatigue
•     Decreased performance despite
continued training
•    Emotional liability

     Rebecca A. Demorest, M.D., is a pediatric sports medicine specialist at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland. She is one of only a handful of pediatricians in the country specifically trained in sports medicine. Her areas of expertise include musculoskeletal and medical sports related injuries in pediatric and adolescent athletes along with rehabilitation and injury prevention. She is a team physician for Piedmont High School, Oakland Strokes Rowing Club and the U.S. Rowing team. Having been a competitive college athlete herself, Demorest understands the desire to heal from sports injuries quickly and properly in order to get back in the game.