Why Proper Injury Management is Important

I recently treated a young dancer who hurt her leg at school.  The story of how she hurt her leg and her subsequent recovery is a perfect example as to why safety recognition and proper injury management is key. 

Now her mechanism of injury is somewhat amusing but totally preventable.  While at school she slipped on a pencil and awkwardly caught her balance.  She was unable to extend her leg fully and was walking around on her tippy toes when I saw her.  She complained of pain in her upper calf.  She had no swelling or deformity.  Her hamstring and calf were in spasm which was causing her pain.  I sent her home with instructions to RICE (rest, ice, compress & elevate).  This is where the story turns ugly.  She went to school the next day feeling better, that was until she was not allowed to ice during recesses and lunch.  When her mother arrived home, her ankle was swollen, bruised and sore.  She was in so much pain, you could not touch her leg without her crying.  Click here to see her ankle.  After one day of ice, elevation and rest the swelling had gone down and by day five full range of motion had returned and she is back to dance.

  

Her injury was totally preventable, making sure that things are not left on the floor and encouraging kids to be aware of their surroundings.  However, kids will be kids and that can't always happen.  What could have happened is the proper management post injury.  As was seen by her recovery once the RICE principle was initiated, if this had been done the day after injury then the swelling, pain and bruising would not have been so severe. 

Basic injury management principles are just that basic and simple.  The RICE principle has been around for many years and does not require much advanced knowledge of injury management.  Correct management obviously creates a more ideal situation for healing, which is in the best interest for everyone.  A similar situation is a friend of mine who hurt her knee during soccer.  Her husband told her to heat it that night.  These two situations show the importance of more education on basic injury management.  

As health professionals we may feel that everyone knows how to deal with acute injuries, but everyday athletes both young and old are getting improper advice which in turn prolongs their injury and taking them away from being active and achieving success. 

For more information on injury prevention and management follow us on Twitter @EliteInjuryMgmt and check out our website www.eliteinjury.com 

Year Long Sport and Early Specialization

Early sport specialization and year long sport has become a major problem for our young athletes.  There are many reasons and justifications for this by parents, coaches and administrators as there is a perceived success for those who do specialize early.  Some are unaware of the detriment to their athletes bodies and some just choose to ignore what they see and hear.  Athletes can achieve success in their careers even when starting to specialize as late as age of fifteen.  

There are both physical and psychological negatives to the early specialization of young athletes. Overuse injuries and burnout are the most common, which lead to early retirement.  By the age of thirteen 70% of adolescent and child athletes will have dropped out of their given sport or activity.  By encouraging and registering them in a cross spectrum of sports benefits include an increase of joy, talent and the use of the full body.  

By involving your child in sports that involve the full body, you decrease the likely hood of overuse injuries.  Repetitive strain injuries such as Osgood-Schlatter, Sever's disease, Little League Elbow, tendinosis, and stress fractures are all linked to excessive repetitive motions and repetitive training cycles.  Gymnastics, diving and figure skating are the only sports to show some benefit with early specialization due to their use of periodization.  Graded increases in activity, are the most beneficial for the physical and skill development of athletes.  Rest both during the season and off season, is imperative to keeping young athletes engaged and injury free.  

The long term effects of overuse injuries can be seen in the number of baseball players especially pitchers in both the college and professional levels who are suffering ulnar collateral ligament sprains.  The philosophy of no pain, no gain has long been shown detrimental in both coaching and conditioning realms.  By engaging in multiple sports different parts of the body and brain are engaged, making turning the child into a better overall athlete.  People marvel at college athletes who compete and excel in more than one sport.  What we should be doing is using them as an example of how non-specialization actually leads to success.

By allowing our young athletes to engage in more than one sport and delaying specialization we will create not only better athletes but better adults as well.  By reducing overuse injuries and burnout at the younger ages, athletes will continue on being active throughout their adult lives.  That is true success over medals and accolades.

Follow us on Twitter @EliteInjuryMgmt and check out our website at www.eliteinjury.com

Resources used for this post

 Overuse injuries and burnout in youth sports: a position statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, DiFiori et al; Br J Sports Med 2014;48:287-288

Any Given Monday: Sports Injuries and How to Prevent Them for Athletes, Parents, and Coaches - Based on My Life in Sports Medicine, Dr. James Andrews 

http://researchrepository.murdoch.edu.au/4422/1/sport_specialization_in_youth.pdf