healthy living
Avoid sports injuries in kids Try stretching, core exercises and rotating sports LY NN U NICHOLS
I
f your elementary-aged child is growing like a weed or playing a demanding sport, it’s time to be extra vigilant about sports injuries. Kids who play explosive sports tend to get hurt more often, especially during growth spurt years. Growth spurts typically occur between ages 7 and 12 for girls and between 10 and 14 for boys. Explosive sports is anything that involves fast stops and starts, sprinting, or jumping. Good examples are football, soccer, basketball, track, volleyball, and gymnastics. During growth spurts, kids go through a relatively tight phase where their muscles and tendons become inflexible, making them more prone to injury. That’s because bones grow first, followed by muscles and tendons. Muscles and tendons are stretched tight until they catch up to growing bones. STRETCHING, CORE EXERCISES, AND ROTATING SPORTS HELP A great way to avoid injury is warming up beforehand. When kids go from zero to 60, it can result in muscle strains and pulls, because cold muscles don’t absorb shock or impact as well as warm muscles. That means planning ahead and getting to practice early so your child can stretch at least 5 to 10 minutes before and after practice. While not all experts recommend stretching, Harvard Health says it keeps muscles flexible, which kids need to maintain range of motion in their joints. When core muscles are strong they support the spine, pelvis and shoulders and ready them for impact during sports. Encourage your kids to do core exercises to keep their cores strong. Draw a line from your belly button around your back: these are your core muscles.
16
| RMPARENT
When injury happens
Here are some tips for dealing with injuries and when to call the doctor:
By getting your kids involved in a variety of sports, you help them develop their whole bodies and avoid the overuse of any one muscle. Kids who come in with the most injuries are the ones playing the same sport in both a club and at school. Consider having your kids play different sports each season and not get too carried away— at least during the growth spurt years. Knees tend to get injured without stretching. If your daughter is in track and field, be extra aware. Running without stretching can cause knee pain, particularly IT band injuries. The IT band runs from the hip to the knee along the outer thigh. It easily tightens up and without stretching, tugs at the knee joint, causing pain. Other common sports injuries in kids are twisted ankles, chronic tendonitis, sprained wrists and ruptures of the Achilles tendon.
• If your daughter twists an ankle while running, have her stop immediately, sit down and take pressure off of it. If it feels better within a few minutes, she can run again but she shouldn’t ever try to run through the pain. • If your son falls and twists an ankle, see a doctor if he has extreme pain. If he is unable to bear weight on it, that’s a warning sign. He might have a fracture. Hearing a pop or snap at the time of the fall is a sign that he might have broken it. Yet if he can bear weight and it gets better each day, it’s most likely a sprain. • Treat swollen or bruised muscles with the PRINCE technique: Protection (ankle brace), Rest (crutches, if severe), Ice (for the first 24 to 72 hours), NSAIDS (acetaminophen for pain), Compression (ACE bandage) and Elevation (keep it raised). Depending on the severity of the sprain it will heal in a week or two. If it gets worse, not better, see a doctor. • With shoulder, arm or hand injuries, if your child feels numbness, tingling or weakness, get it checked out by your family doctor or a sports medicine specialist.
