Many kids aspire to be athletes and improve on their sport so much that they willingly submit themselves to difficult exercises and physical activities as early as six or seven years old. Their spirit may be commendable, but they’re also more vulnerable to injuries that could send them to a center for physical therapy in Chattanooga or elsewhere. An article posted on WORLDMag.com discusses how serious some of the injuries that these children sustain can be:
The most common overuse injuries among children include sever’s disease, which is inflammation in the heel bone caused by repetitive stress on the growth plate as the foot strikes the ground; jumper’s knee, inflammation and tissue damage to knee tendons caused by the repetitive contraction of the quadriceps muscle; stress fractures, small cracks that occur when muscles become fatigued and transfer the overload of impact stress to bones; and throwing injuries, inflammation and damage to immature bones in the arms caused by excessive throwing motions.
These are the types of injuries that professional athletes typically suffer from during practice sessions, which speak nothing of the other injuries that they sustain on the playing field. Regardless if they’re sprains and fractures, recovering from these injuries takes time and requires the full supervision of a reliable physical therapist and/or sports doctor, like those from the Center of Sports Medicine and Orthopaedics in Tennessee. Insisting on a speedy recovery may run the risk of worsening the injuries that manifest in the future (also known as chronic injuries).
Unsurprisingly, the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) discovered that boys are more likely to suffer from sports injuries than girls since they are generally more inclined to sports. Regardless of gender, however, injured athletes need to undergo the grueling treatment process that includes rest and rehabilitation. In more complex cases, surgery and therapy may be necessary. Therapy is particularly important because severe injuries aren’t necessarily “treated” just because the damage has been repaired. Building back the muscles that have experienced atrophy is required before the affected area can return to full functionality.
Fortunately, these things fall within the expertise of reliable experts, like a physical therapist from Chattanooga. They know that the road to recovery can become easier for athletes (especially children) if they know that someone’s there at their side, ever willing to lend a helping hand. Athletes, young and old, need only to be careful in their sport if they wish to avoid trekking this road.
(Article Excerpt and Image from Youth sports specialization leads to injuries, World News Group, Published November 4, 2013)