Staying In The Game

Rest resolves most youth sports injuries, but specialization can lead to surgery

- Kurt Dusterberg

If you have a child who excels at a favorite sport, you’ve probably found yourself caught up in the busy world of travel and club sports — high-level teams designed to maximize performance and exposure for your budding star athlete.

Before you know it, your son or daughter is playing for multiple teams, traveling to tournaments, practicing constantly and even taking private lessons. For many families, the end game is to land a college athletic scholarship. But, oftentimes, injuries are the more likely outcome — at least in the short term.

With increased specialized sports participation comes the likelihood of overuse injuries, and the cause is obvious to orthopedic doctors. Many kids today “specialize” in one sport, rather than play a variety of sports in different seasons. As a result, these athletes stress their growing bodies in the same joints and muscles without enough downtime. The good news is that most injuries to young athletes are easily treated with rest.

ALL YOU NEED IS … REST

Dr. William Hage, M.D., specializes in arthroscopic treatments for knee and shoulder injuries at EmergeOrtho, which has multiple locations throughout the Triangle. He estimates that 90 percent of the injuries he treats are sports-specific. Baseball players usually suffer from shoulder and elbow pain in the throwing arm, while soccer players often deal with inflammation around the knee and heel.