Girls who play sports more than 8 hours per week are twice as likely
as their less active peers to suffer a stress fracture, a new study finds. Most at risk were those engaged in three
activities (running, basketball and cheerleading/gymnastics) which
involve repeated jumping and landing which place particuarly high stress
on bone, with the risk of injury increasing about 8 percent for each
extra hour of activity over four per week.
Youth gymnasts are developing a wide variety of unusual arm, wrist and
hand injuries from overuse, according to a study presented at the 2008 annual
meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Regular post-concussion monitoring is essential in the first 24 to 48 hours after injury to check for signs of deteriorating mental status that may indicate a more serious injury, says Dr. Robert Cantu.
Overuse injuries have become commonplace among young athletes in the last decade (although "Little League elbow" has been a problem for decades). They are not the kind suffered by children and adolescents engaging in free play or "pick up" games, but are clearly a product of the organized youth sports boom. The damage to hard and soft tissues resulting from undetected, unreported and often untreated overuse injuries can be permanent and lead to problems later in life, such as arthritis.