The American Academy of Pediatrics Counci on Sports and Fitness has cited;  “every year more thasn 3.5 million children under the age of 15 require medical treatment for sport injuries, nearly half of which are the result of overuse“. 

     They have also stated that; “overuse injuries, overtraining and burnout among children and adolescent athletes are a growing problem in the U.S.”.

It seems that overuse injuries are becoming more common today, but nothing new.  In 1988 (The Archives of Disease in Childhood) 2 London based physicians; (N. Maffulli and P. Helmes) concluded;  “At least 60% of all injuries sustained were in direct relation to training and training regimens and could be avoided by appropriate changes in training programs”.

I see many of our young athletes (male/female) with overuse injuries.  What’s happening here?  Well for one, many of these kids do not have an off- season to rest/revover their bodies.  They go right into their next sport or they go from travel hockey, to their High School to Spring, etc…  This happens in many sports.  It’s wonderful that our young athletes have the drive and passion to play, but what about their physical literacy or their physical development?  The demands placed by their sports will break their bodies down and also cause possible injuries due to the repetitive nature of each  sport, especially if they are focusing on just 1 sport. 

That’s why we do not advocate specializing before adolescence.   Many kids today are not preparing their bodies for the physical and mental demands of their respective sports.  They NEED to get stronger, faster, and master fundamental motor skills first before their sport skills.  That’s why the LTAD is so important here in the U.S. 

We have a progressive system for our kids in regards to their education.  Kids have to learn the basics of reading, writing and arithmatic before they can go onto the next level, the same standards should be held in reagrds to their “physical literacy”.   A system where kids perform age appropriate skill aquisition games/drills to maximize their athletic potential.  We cannot control all injuries, that’s the nature of playing sports, but we can control how we train and develop our young athletes.  Is this going to happen overnight?  It’s the responsibility of all of the coaches/trainers and parents who have and work with kids to educate ourselves on the latest data and research on childhood development and the why behind LTAD, so we can keep the kids on the field of play for the long term and create healthy active adults for life!.