Fractured Futures: Teen Sports and Overuse Injury

With millions of children heading to emergency rooms from sports, dancing and other physical activities each year, Timely TV made a film about why this is happening and how it can be prevented. It is a later entry in the Teen Health series.

More young people train year-round in a single sport, at camps and club programs, instead of playing across seasons. The film looks at proper training, the injuries that follow, how to recognize them, and how much practice is too much.

Overuse shows up across football, cheerleading, snowboarding, basketball, dance, tennis and track — anywhere a scholarship, a pro career, or the Olympics is the goal. The film is about chronic damage to ligaments and tendons, and severe concussions, not only sprains and broken bones.

Dr. James Andrews, a sports orthopedist, is quoted: “They are overuse injuries pure and simple. You get a kid on the operating table and you say to yourself, ‘It’s impossible for a 13-year-old to have this kind of wear and tear.’ We’ve got an epidemic going on.” The page notes that many youth coaches are volunteers and parents with little formal training.

The original page cites more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and under suffering sports- and recreation-related injuries each year, and 21% of traumatic brain injuries among children in the United States.

It’s impossible for a 13-year-old to have this kind of wear and tear.