If you are playing a sport there is a risk for injury. Age can play a part in what injuries are sustained.
Youth
More than 30 million young people participate in organized sport programs in the US, which means the opportunity for injury in enormous. Statically, as a child ages, the rate and severity of injury increases.
- Overuse Injuries: Overuse injuries are one of the most common injuries in a young athlete. An overuse injury is defined as athletic movement or activity that repeats so often that the body doesn’t have enough time to heal properly between practices or competition.
- Growth Plates: These types or repetitive injuries can adversely affect a child’s growth plates. Growth plates are the growing tissue found near the end of the arm and leg bones in adolescents. Growth plate account for the length and shape of the mature bone. Once the body has fully matured, growth plates are replaced by solid bone.
“Doing a lot of different activities is how kids develop the skills they can translate into their sport of preference in the future,” says Nick Monson, MD, a sports medicine specialist at University of Utah Health. “A baseball player should be able to enjoy swimming or basketball or any other sport.”
Adults
If you actively participate in a sport, chances are you’ll suffer an injury. But the benefits of exercise far outweigh the risk of injury, and injury can often be mitigated by proper preparation. Th most common reasons adults injure themselves is related to poor physical condition, or they neglect to warm up properly or stretch thoroughly enough. As the human body ages, it needs more time and preparation in order to engage in exercise or sports.
The most common sports injuries in adults are:
- Sprains and strains
- Knee injuries
- Muscles
- Achilles tendon
- Fractures and dislocations
