Game On: Tips for Preventing Youth Sport Injuries
Courtney Carter
/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2024

Game On: Tips for Preventing Youth Sport Injuries

According to the National Council of Youth Sports, roughly 60 million children are registered to play youth sports in the U.S. Of them, an estimated  3.5 million, aged 14 and younger, get hurt annually participating sports and more than 775,000 go to the emergency rooms due to those injuries.

But before you reconsider signing your child up for whatever sport season is next, consider this:

50% of youth sports injuries are preventable.

Injury Insight

62% of organized sports-related injuries occur during practice rather than games.

 

 To keep your athlete safe, follow these injury prevention tips:

  1. Get Regular Health Check-ups
    Regular check-ups—especially pre-season—are essential to monitoring overall health and spotting and address any potential concerns that might contribute to an injury.

  2. Use Appropriate Equipment
    Properly fitted, sport-specific protective gear such as helmets, pads, and shoes are must-haves for every athlete. Don’t use equipment it if it has missing or broken buckles or compressed or worn padding as it likely won’t fit well and  may not offer proper protection.

  3. Warm-up Before Playing
    Stretching before exercise has proven to be even more important for preventing injury. Stretching helps loosen muscles and readies them for play. Athletes should stretch each of the major lower body muscle groups before and after sporting activity. Click here for a series of stretches from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

  4. Practice Proper Training and Technique
    Using proper form and technique can significantly reduce the risk of both acute and overuse injuries for every sport. Make sure your child has qualified and age-appropriate instruction no matter their sport.

  5. Stress the Importance of Hydration and Nutrition
    Keeping a body properly hydrated and well-fueled through diet and nutrition is essential to both performance and recovery. Encourage athletes to drink water throughout the day, not just at games or practice. For intense workouts or games, provide electrolyte-rich drinks.

Discourage eating sugary snacks, fast food, and sugary beverages that can lead to energy crashes.  Strive for a healthy diet rich in fruits, vegetables, protein, and carbohydrates. For ideas on what to eat on competition days, click here

  1. Emphasize Rest and Recovery
    As passionate as your young athlete might be about their chosen sport, it’s important to encourage adequate rest between practices and games.

  2. Play the Field

Many kids like to play sports year-round, which makes overuse a common cause of injury. Doing the same motions year-round puts wear and tear on developing muscles, tendons, and bones. Playing a variety of sports works to develop different fundamental skills. In fact, studies of college-level and Olympic athletes found that the majority of them played multiple sports growing up and did not specialize early.

 

Youth Sports and Consequences

According to the National Health Statistics Reports, these are the activities responsible for the most emergency room visits for sports injuries among patients aged 5-29.

AGES 5-9

Playground                              23.1%

Cycling                                    13.8%

Gymnastics/Cheerleading        9.3%

Running or Jogging                  8.4%

AGES 10-14

Football            19.9%

Basketball        13.0%

Cycling             10.1%

Soccer              7.4%

AGES 15-19

Basketball        16.6%

Football           16.2%

Soccer              9.3%

Cycling             7.3%

 

Even with best practices and an abundance of caution, injuries can still happen. If your child is experiencing consistent pain during or after sports or swelling around a joint that doesn’t respond to rest or ice, reach out to their doctor for an appointment. Playing through with an injury can lead to more damage and longer recovery time. 


Jennifer LaChance, PA-C, is an orthopedic associate at SVMC Orthopedics in Bennington, VT and Northern Berkshire Orthopedics in Williamstown, MA.

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A Note from SVMC Dentistry

Unlike many other types of health care, most dental procedures require that a patient be present in the office with their mouth uncovered and wide open. In addition, many dental procedures, produce a lot of spray or aerosolized particles that could spread infection. For these reasons, reopening dental offices while COVID-19 circulates requires many strict precautions to ensure safety for patients and staff.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Vermont Department of Health have issued the requirements necessary to reopen our office for patient care. For the next few months, the changes lessen by half the number of patients we are able to see per day and dramatically change the care experience.

Here are some of the changes we've made:

  • We are screening and testing our staff, and all staff are wearing more protective equipment than ever, including treatment gowns and gloves, head coverings, facemasks (such as surgical masks, N95 masks, or respirators), and face-shields, as required during treatment procedures.
  • Patients can use the "virtual" waiting room to lessen the number of people in our waiting room and observe social distancing. We ask that only one person accompany a patient to a dental appointment and only if the patient needs assistance.
  • We screen patients at the Medical Office Building entrance to ensure they have no symptoms and that they are wearing a facemask. Patients must wear their facemask at all times, except during the actual treatment.
  • Some preventive care and treatments carry a higher risk for producing airborne oral droplets. These procedures may be modified to ensure that care is safe.
  • Most dramatically, depending on the dental treatment, a room must remain idle for 15 minutes - 1 hour to allow droplets to settle before disinfection. This limits the number of patients that we can treat each day.

While it is very disappointing to us—after all, we became dentists and hygienists because we like to provide dental care—all existing appointments will be suspended and a new schedule will be created, based on the time it takes for a room to be disinfected. We understand that this is frustrating for patients who must wait longer than usual for an appointment, but it is also necessary to make care safe for all.

Major changes to the ventilation systems—the installation of HEPA filtration and negative-pressure in our treatment rooms—will eliminate airborne droplets more quickly and enable us to see more patients per day. This change is expected to be complete later this summer.

In the meantime, we appreciate your patience as we meet your needs as best we can. We encourage you to continue vigilant home care and reach out to us with your questions. Most of all, we look forward to returning to a more normal time when we can deliver all of the dental care our community needs safely and efficiently.

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