In terms of classifying athletes, it has been said that there are two types: those who have been injured, and those who have not been injured yet. It is estimated that between 15 and 20 million sports injuries occur in the United States alone. These injuries can range from nagging constant pain due to overuse, to season ending injuries such as ligament damage in the ankle, knee or shoulder: and the age of the athlete’s affected can range from very young, (7 years) to not so young (40 years plus). These statistics are staggering, but not necessarily unpredictable.
As opportunity for youth participation continues to rise in our country, the number of injuries related to participation naturally continues to rise. There is really no way to slow down these statistics because injury will always be a part of athletics. As coaches and parents, it is our duty to try and prevent injury through understanding proper technique, effective warm up, conditioning that is sport specific, and the value of rest and recovery on injury prevention. Softball alone has seen a rise in elbow, shoulder and ligament injuries. The interesting fact is these injuries are not caused by impact such as football, basketball and soccer. These injuries are usually caused by overuse and lack of rest and recovery. It is common to hear coaches speak about working harder and unfortunately we need to learn to work smarter. Fatigue plays a huge factor in many injuries. Our ability as coaches and parents to obtain knowledge regarding proper training guidelines can provide an important link in keeping our daughters and athletes healthy and minimize our chances for these types of injuries. I had a career ending injury in college from an elbow injury that was basically caused from overuse and improper technique in Little League. Could it have been prevented? Absolutely! The first thing that comes to mind was trying to play through my injury. If I would have listen to my body and provided my arm with rest and rehab, surgery could have been prevented.
Now, I know that athletics takes a toll on your body even when doing things right and normally your body feels it’s best only on the first day of practice. The key is to understand soreness vs. pain. Soreness can be controlled with proper training, warm up, and post practice recovery such as ice and massage. Still, the number 1 cause of injury in our game is overuse. We tend to play many more games in a season, we have longer seasons in fact most are playing year round, and we fail to spend time training properly, monitor our workloads, and fail to have enough rest and recovery.
As injuries occur, we must also understand that not only does this create a larger need for the physical problems associated with the injury to be addressed through possible surgery, rehabilitation and conditioning, it also creates a necessity for young athletes parents and coaches to understand the mental and emotional factors that need to be addressed for a full recovery.
Until Next Month,
