It makes parents’ hearts pound, panic and fear shooting
through their minds. One moment, a fun game is under way – in a blink of an
eye, a sports injury has one of their children lying on the ground hurt. What
happened? Can she walk? Is he bleeding?
According to the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), scenarios like this are not rare:
- Nationally, over 775,000 children under age 15 are treated in
hospital emergency departments for sports-related injuries each year.
- About 80
percent of these injuries are from football, basketball, baseball, or soccer.
-
Most sports-related injuries in children – about
two-thirds of them – are sprains and strains. Only 5 percent of sports
injuries involve broken bones.
Long after the panic and the immediate trauma treatment of a
sports injury, however, there are problems lurking – problems that may not
appear until much later. The most serious of these is osteoarthritis. According
to one study, a single knee injury early in life can put a person at five times
the risk for osteoarthritis in adulthood; likewise a hip injury could more than
triple risk.
Fact: Osteoarthritis
(OA) affects approximately 21 million of the nearly 46 million people with
arthritis and chronic joint symptoms. Already the nation’s
number one cause of disability, all types of arthritis affect one in three people,
a number that is expected to grow annually as baby boomers age. In OA the cartilage that
cushions a joint is worn away, causing the joint’s bones to meet and grind
together, resulting in pain and stiffness.
And it’s not just an
old person’s disease – younger people who’ve been injured in high
intensity sports, such as skiing, can begin experiencing symptoms in their late
30s and early 40s.
Kids who play sports will get hurt – that’s a fact. But
how can parents and coaches protect kids’ joints, reducing the risk of injury
and cutting the chance of developing osteoarthritis later?
Finally:
Don’t Panic!
Protecting your child’s joints from sports injuries should
not mean keeping him or her out of sports and stuck in the house. The long-term
benefits of sports for children are clear. Exercise is crucial for maintaining
proper weight, improving strength and coordination, and building lifelong good
health habits early. Emotionally,
team sports can help children build social skills and can provide a general
sense of well-being.
Let them play – but play smart!