Sports injuries are a major problem for young athletes. According to a survey from Safe Kids Worldwide, 1.35 million young athletes need to visit an emergency room or ICU for treatment each year. While most of those injuries are fairly benign, they still illustrate the risks that young adults face. They should be educated about the risks and take the necessary steps to avoid such injuries.
Which Types of Injuries Are Most Common?
According to the survey, sprains and strains are the most common injuries that young athletes face. An estimated 451,480 athletes between the ages of 6 and 19 suffer from one of these minor injuries every year. While these injuries aren’t particularly debilitating, they can still be painful and keep athletes from participating for entire seasons.
More severe injuries aren’t all that uncommon either. Safe Kids Worldwide reports that 249,000 young athletes experience fractures each year as well. These problems can be especially traumatizing for young people. Concussions aren’t as common, but still a cause for concern.
A large number of these injuries occur while participating in high impact sports. The prevalence of injuries among young athletes is higher than it needs to be. Parents, coaches and teens should be aware of the steps that they should take to avoid them.
How Can Impact Injuries Be Prevented?
There are a number of precautions that young athletes can take to minimize the risk of high impact sports injuries. Here are some that they should consider.
Use Dynamic Stretches
A growing volume of research such as this study from Miami University shows that static stretches both impede performance and limit performance. It’s better to do dynamic stretches, which incorporate the full range of body motion. These stretches include doing toy soldiers and high kicks.
Keep Your Body Warmed Up
Raising your body temperature keeps your muscles limber, which reduces tension. This not only reduces the risk of muscle injuries, but it can also reduce the risk of joint and bone injuries as well, because keeping your muscles loose reduces the pressure on other parts of your body and improves your balance.
Keep a Balanced Center of Gravity
A large number of high impact sports injuries occur when people lose their balance and fall. This is especially common in full-contact sports where people can collide with each other. The risk of injury is a lot lower if you maintain a good center of gravity.
Take the Necessary Precautions
High impact sports injuries are clearly a problem for young athletes. Fortunately, there are a number of ways that they can be prevented if the right steps are taken. If you are a parent or a coach, then you may need to educate athletes in your care to make sure that they don’t get injured while playing these sports. If they do get injured, then they should be taken to Banner Core for attention before the injury progresses.
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