HBO Real Sports: Youth Sports Injuries

[Anonymous]

HBO did a big piece on the professionalization of youth sports which has led to a spike in youth injuries. For example, over the last ten years, there has been a 5x increase in the number of pediatric ACL injuries.

An interesting piece worth watching, especially for those who are doing sports year-round.

[Anonymous]

It was very well done (as is so much on Real Sports) and scary. And I hate the focus on specialization on one sport for kids. Yet here I sit, having discouraged my kid from playing on his HS basketball team this year, after it ate into his club soccer time last year (as a 10th grader, yikes). Soccer is where my kid really excels and may play in college, but he enjoys basketball for fun. I just don't want to be the parent who goes first...sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was very well done (as is so much on Real Sports) and scary. And I hate the focus on specialization on one sport for kids. Yet here I sit, having discouraged my kid from playing on his HS basketball team this year, after it ate into his club soccer time last year (as a 10th grader, yikes). Soccer is where my kid really excels and may play in college, but he enjoys basketball for fun. I just don't want to be the parent who goes first...sigh.

Our soccer club coaches continue to suggest that if the players choose to do a second sport or play high school soccer, they're not serious about wanting to play in college. Even in a league (ECNL for girls) that is structured schedule-wise to support that, they have planted the seed in these young teens' minds that "there will be consequences" for not choosing club only. Frustrating.

[Anonymous]

I watched this with my player. They had so many questions about the injury and impact. Most kids feel they are indestructible until something like this happens. My child is young enough where I can sway them to do other sports and take breaks from main sport but either way its always unbalanced.

[Anonymous]

it seems to me the causes are cultural. We've assigned so much importance to being competitive in sports. This applies at many levels, from youth soccer to college and pro.
While injuries are on the rise, the frequency is still low enough that i don't see things changing too much.

[Anonymous]

Besides resting, is there any exercise that would help prevent physical injuries (ACL, etc.)?

While it is said for kids to play multiple sports and not focus on one sport due to injury. If kid plays soccer, and let’s say lacrosse (or other running/agility type of sport), he/she would still get overuse injury too, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Besides resting, is there any exercise that would help prevent physical injuries (ACL, etc.)?

While it is said for kids to play multiple sports and not focus on one sport due to injury. If kid plays soccer, and let’s say lacrosse (or other running/agility type of sport), he/she would still get overuse injury too, right?

Yes, adding a 2nd sport with similar physical demands to the primary sport, without cutting back on the primary sport, is only going to increase the risk of injury even more. Playing high school soccer in addition to club soccer (rather than instead of) is insanity.

To answer your question, there are 2 programs which have been proven to reduce the incidence of ACL injuries.

PEP: https://www.aclstudygroup.com/pdf/pep-program.pdf

KIPP: https://www.elitesoccercommunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/KIIP-presentation.pdf; http://kipp.instituteforsportsmedicine.org/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides resting, is there any exercise that would help prevent physical injuries (ACL, etc.)?

While it is said for kids to play multiple sports and not focus on one sport due to injury. If kid plays soccer, and let’s say lacrosse (or other running/agility type of sport), he/she would still get overuse injury too, right?

Yes, adding a 2nd sport with similar physical demands to the primary sport, without cutting back on the primary sport, is only going to increase the risk of injury even more. Playing high school soccer in addition to club soccer (rather than instead of) is insanity.

Playing club soccer year round is really no different from an overuse standpoint than a club/HS cooperative schedule. By cooperative schedule I mean similar to ECNL where the club and HS schedules are coordinated. Most high level club coaches are pretty good about watching for fatigue and overuse situations.

[Anonymous]

I don't buy the idea that doing 1 sport vs multiple sports has a correlation to injury. Fall soccer, winter basketball, spring soccer, summer swim, etc....does not matter. The fact that you are physically moving more increases the probability of injury. The alternative is to reduce the frequency which means you are back to kids not being active enough.

My son plays soccer year round and sprinkles in flag football and basketball. He was injured last year playing a hockey like game in gym class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy the idea that doing 1 sport vs multiple sports has a correlation to injury. Fall soccer, winter basketball, spring soccer, summer swim, etc....does not matter. The fact that you are physically moving more increases the probability of injury. The alternative is to reduce the frequency which means you are back to kids not being active enough.

My son plays soccer year round and sprinkles in flag football and basketball. He was injured last year playing a hockey like game in gym class.

https://www.stopsportsinjuries.org/STOP/Prevent_Injuries/Overuse_Injury.aspx is a sample article. You begin to see it in the older age groups, as early as U13 and above. It's a real issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy the idea that doing 1 sport vs multiple sports has a correlation to injury. Fall soccer, winter basketball, spring soccer, summer swim, etc....does not matter. The fact that you are physically moving more increases the probability of injury. The alternative is to reduce the frequency which means you are back to kids not being active enough.

My son plays soccer year round and sprinkles in flag football and basketball. He was injured last year playing a hockey like game in gym class.

This is what kids used to do and there were far fewer injuries. Swimming especially is great because it's not weight-bearing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy the idea that doing 1 sport vs multiple sports has a correlation to injury. Fall soccer, winter basketball, spring soccer, summer swim, etc....does not matter. The fact that you are physically moving more increases the probability of injury. The alternative is to reduce the frequency which means you are back to kids not being active enough.

My son plays soccer year round and sprinkles in flag football and basketball. He was injured last year playing a hockey like game in gym class.

They are talking about overuse injuries and different sports lowers that - not same repetitive motion etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Besides resting, is there any exercise that would help prevent physical injuries (ACL, etc.)?

While it is said for kids to play multiple sports and not focus on one sport due to injury. If kid plays soccer, and let’s say lacrosse (or other running/agility type of sport), he/she would still get overuse injury too, right?

Yes, adding a 2nd sport with similar physical demands to the primary sport, without cutting back on the primary sport, is only going to increase the risk of injury even more. Playing high school soccer in addition to club soccer (rather than instead of) is insanity.

Playing club soccer year round is really no different from an overuse standpoint than a club/HS cooperative schedule. By cooperative schedule I mean similar to ECNL where the club and HS schedules are coordinated. Most high level club coaches are pretty good about watching for fatigue and overuse situations.

Right, that's why they typically rest their best players in the later stages of tournaments, when fatigue has accumulated and the risk of injury skyrockets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Besides resting, is there any exercise that would help prevent physical injuries (ACL, etc.)?

While it is said for kids to play multiple sports and not focus on one sport due to injury. If kid plays soccer, and let’s say lacrosse (or other running/agility type of sport), he/she would still get overuse injury too, right?

There is some research out there that says the FIFA 11+ warm up has been shown in several studies to reduce injury rate in general and to reduce the rate of ACL tears. Also strengthening with squats and so forth helps with that as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HBO did a big piece on the professionalization of youth sports which has led to a spike in youth injuries. For example, over the last ten years, there has been a 5x increase in the number of pediatric ACL injuries.

An interesting piece worth watching, especially for those who are doing sports year-round.

I will maintain an open mind. But where were all these injuries when we greet up 30-40 years ago and played more than kids today in every sport, except perhaps football? And what about all the kids overseas who play soccer for hours a day, much more than standard top travel teams? Are they also seeing a dramatic increase, or even any increase, in these injuries?