Children's physical activity today is very different than it was 30 years ago. Then, the children had physical tasks, free play and games in the garden. Today, children participate in organized and structured activities. Large numbers of children are involved in traditional school sports programs and athletic travel teams, as well as club programs, summer camps, and personal training programs. An estimated 30 million children, ages 5 to 17, are involved in organized athletic programs. This involvement has created an environment where many young people train and compete year-round, often in a single sport. It is estimated that approximately 33% of children involved in sports will be treated by a doctor or nurse for a sports-related injury. . Approximately 50% of these injuries will be attributed to overuse injuries. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay There are several reasons for youth sports injuries. Research has identified the following frequent mechanisms for sports injuries15: Inadequate pre-participation physical examinations Poor fitness levels of children Grouping teams by age rather than size Sports specialization at an early age Lack of coach education Conditioning and training errors Playing Through Fatigue Growth Inadequate pre-participation physical exams are a concern in youth sports. Children need more than a basic physical exam before participating in sports. The pre-participation physical is an opportunity to prevent an injury. This is the time to check whether the young person has any physical conditions that could predispose them to injuries or musculoskeletal problems that could be improved with rehabilitation. For example, Wang et al. (All et al. should be in italics) have demonstrated that postural sway can be a valid screening tool for basketball. This study demonstrated that high school athletes who exhibited high postural sway variation were at increased risk for ankle injuries. If a child shows postural sway during a sports physical, the doctor may recommend balance training before basketball season. Another risk factor could be inadequate physical conditioning. In a recent editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Stovitz et al. he wonders if we are “overusing the term overuse.” He believes people are being scared away from physical activity to avoid overuse injuries. His thesis is that people get hurt because of the “underuse” of their bodies. I'm not physically fit. Fewer athletes follow a basic physical education program, and many spend an enormous amount of time in front of the television or computer. Because of this lack of education and inactivity, many athletes are ill-prepared to meet the demands of an athletic program. Heidt et al. found that a preseason conditioning program contributed to a decrease in sports injuries. Forty-two out of 300 female soccer players were randomly selected to participate in a 20-session pre-season training program customized to their sport and position. The most significant result of this study was that injuries were significantly higher in the untrained group than in the trained group (33.7% versus 14.3%, respectively). The focus of many youth programs is on the development of specific sport skills rather than on the development of fundamental physical fitness.6 If the primary objectiveof the coach is the victory, time can be dedicated to developing the skills of your players while neglecting the overall physical fitness of the athlete. Olsen et al. after surveying 140 pitchers, he found that 50% of all pitchers perceived that their coaches were more concerned about winning the game than the pitcher's health. Emphasis on sports skills over fundamental fitness can lead to overuse injuries.6 Smith et al.20 hypothesized that overuse injuries suffered by young athletes could be reduced by up to 50% if greater emphasis was placed on fundamental physical fitness before sport. participation. After the onset of puberty, grouping children by age could be problematic.12 In 2005, a Little League World Series player on Dhahran's All-Star team, he stood 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 226 pounds. The average weight of a Little League player is 111 pounds.4 This is a notable disparity and cause for concern. Matching athletes' weight with physical maturity may be important in reducing physical injuries. Children should be encouraged to play a variety of sports as they grow to develop a foundation of physical fitness. Specialization before age 10 could lead to overuse injuries.6 Many parents have encouraged specialization in a sport at an early age in the hopes that the child would win a college scholarship or become a professional athlete. By playing a year-round sport, your body is not given rest and recovery time and this could potentially lead to an overuse injury. Explain why, mechanically. Children should be allowed to experiment with different activities to develop skills and interests as well as general fitness. The United States is the only country in the world of sports that does not have a national coach education program. There are no federal laws requiring the training of coaches at any level of competition. While the enthusiasm of volunteer and paid coaches is appreciated and welcome, untrained coaches may unknowingly contribute to sports injuries. Many youth sports coaches are largely uninformed about the growth and development of children and proper conditioning and training techniques. The National Association for Sports and Physical Education (NASPE) developed national standards for athletic trainers. It is a fundamental set of knowledge that coaches should know. These are 37 standards that include information on basic first aid and CPR, children's growth and development, training, conditioning and risk management.16 Playing despite fatigue and pain is another causal factor of injuries. In a 2003 study, injuries were shown to increase when training loads increased significantly.1 Most injuries occurred when the athlete's body was fatigued, such as towards the end of a training session. 1 It is important that the coach (or parent) does not push the child too fast. There should be no greater than a 10% increase each week in the amount of distance traveled, the amount of training time added, or the number of repetitions performed in an activity. This goes back to properly training coaches. Acute growth plate injuries can account for up to 30% of sports injuries. A child is more vulnerable to injury during a growth spurt. The physes may be 2-3 times weaker than the surrounding fibrous tissue. Therefore, growth plates often fail beforefailure of surrounding ligaments or bone.10 A force that would cause a sprain in an adult could lead to a serious growth plate injury for an adolescent. The growing parts of the bone include the physis and epiphysis. Two types of epiphyses found in the long bones of children and adolescents are pressure epiphyses and tensile epiphyses.2 Pressure epiphyses are located at the ends of long bones and are subject to compressive forces. The epiphysis of the distal humerus is an example of a pressure epiphysis. Pressure injuries to the epiphyses can cause growth disorders. The traction epiphyses or apophyses are located at the tendon attachment site for a major muscle. An example is the apophysis of the tubercle of the tibia. The apophyses are subject to tensile forces. They contribute to bone shape but not to longitudinal growth. If a site of the apophysis is damaged, it will cause great discomfort but will not stop longitudinal bone growth. An example of an apophyseal overuse condition is medial epicondylopathy of the throwing arm2, commonly known as Little League elbow. The elbow is the most common injury site in young baseball players. Overuse injuries such as traction apophysitis can occur in a young athlete when the growth center is actively unable to meet the demands placed on it during an activity. Basic Anatomy and Kinematics of the Elbow The elbow is a complex joint that is extremely important in the kinematics and kinetics of throwing. It is a joint with two degrees of freedom: flexion and extension and pronation and supination. The range of motion is 140◦ to 145◦ and 120◦ to 140◦, respectively. The elbow has a valgus angle, called the carrying angle, of about 10◦ to 15◦, although carrying angles in women tend to be slightly larger. The stability of the elbow is achieved by the congruence of the bony structures, the large joint capsule and the four surrounding ligaments. The main tensile stresses of the elbow are incurred on the medial side, especially in throwing. The medial collateral ligament is the primary stabilizer against valgus stress. Throwing biomechanics. The six phases of throwing: windup, stride, arm cocking, arm acceleration, arm deceleration, and follow-through. The images represent the instances that separate the phases: initial movement, balance point, foot contact, maximum shoulder external rotation (MaxER), release, maximum shoulder internal rotation (MaxIR), and field position. The six phases of the throw are: windup, stride, arm cocking, arm acceleration, arm deceleration, and follow-through. The point of maximum external rotation of the shoulder is at the beginning of the acceleration of the arm. The point of maximum internal rotation of the shoulder is at the beginning of the follow-through. Coordination of all six phases is important to prevent overuse and overuse injuries. During the loading phase, the forearm is slightly prone and the elbow is flexed. In the stride the elbow is slightly extended. In late arming the forearm is completely prone, extended to 90°, and the shoulder is inclined in external rotation. Up to this point the forces at the elbow have been insignificant but towards the end of cocking valgus forces begin and increase exponentially during acceleration resulting in loads approaching the final failure point of the medial collateral ligament. During acceleration until the ball is released the elbow extends from 90◦ - 110◦ flexion to 20◦ - 35◦ extension. In late cocking, the energy of the forward step and the rotation of the pelvis and upper torso are transferred to the upper extremities.10 In throwers?”