Practicing sports is always a recommendable activity, since it contributes to a child’s good health. However, certain recommendations should be taken into account to avoid injuries.
The practice of sports is highly recommended in childhood and adolescence, since it contributes to the development of a good state of health and to the prevention of certain pathologies. Even so, the practice of sports activities is not risk-free, especially if we consider the child as a small adult and do not respect his or her anatomical, physiological and psychological particularities.
The child has a developing body, with growing cartilages that are the areas of least resistance of the skeleton, with a weak musculature but with resistant tendons that experience a loss of elasticity in times of growth spurts, and with a lower capacity for thermoregulation. If these particularities are not respected, injuries will appear.
Sports injuries in children
Approximately 25% of children who play sports are injured every year. They may suffer acute injuries, caused by trauma or a bad gesture, such as ankle or knee sprains, fractures, etc. which, in general, are less serious than those occurring in the adult population, due to the fact that children have less weight, strength, speed and aggressiveness. However, they often present overload injuries due to repetitive actions that overload the osteoarticular apparatus and result in chronic pain.
There are many predisposing factors for the occurrence of these overuse injuries, all of which are preventable. Some are common with adulthood, such as inadequate equipment (particularly footwear), terrain, technique or warm-up. Anatomical alterations in the axes of the lower extremities or feet can also put the child at greater risk for overuse injuries. But the most important factor in childhood is excessive demands at increasingly younger ages, increasing the intensity and duration of training and not respecting rest periods.
Treatment and prevention of sports injuries in children
After the appearance of these injuries, it is essential to be assessed by a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, who will make a correct diagnosis and give the necessary indications for treatment. This may require a period of rest, immobilization, physiotherapy, use of insoles or other technical aids, among other treatments.
But the most important thing should always be prevention. For that you need:
– adult trainers with specific training
– an age-appropriate training program
– combining muscle strengthening with stretching
– proper hydration
– correct equipment and facilities
– proper interspersion of training and rest periods
– avoiding excessive activity.
Apart from the above recommendations, the most important and essential thing will always be to pay attention to the discomfort reported by the child and, in case of pain, stop the exercise.