We are witnessing an unprecedented rise in youth sport overuse injuries. We are seeing 12 year olds with overuse injuries that used to be reserved only for very high level college-aged and professional athletes. We as parents, coaches and medical professionals helping these athletes, must guard against the urge to PUSH-PUSH-PUSH all the time. Scheduled rest days are imperative. Participating in other activities and sports outside of the “primary” sport is healthy. Finally, we need to observe the athlete and LISTEN to them. Many times, the child is less interested in the sport than the parent because it has become a job. We are linking a great article below about constant training and overuse injuries. This article is written by an associate of ours, Dr. Kim Davis, founder and CEO of RunLab in Austin, Texas. Injuries are part of the game… but overuse and repetitive injury doesn’t necessarily have to be when training is appropriate.
