Why Sports Rehab Is A Growing Concern For Parents Of Teenagers!
Sports rehabilitation has existed in one form or another essentially as long as sports themselves. Injuries are an inevitable side-effect that can strike without a moments notice when training for or competing in sports, often times on a seemingly routine play or action.
In recent years, there has been a shift in the demographics of those in need of sports rehabilitation; more and more teenagers are suffering sports-related injuries which had previously been more commonly seen in athletes nearly twice their age. The cause of this trend is not difficult to pinpoint, it primarily boils down to the fact that kids are being veered towards organized sports at younger ages than ever before.
Merely competing at younger ages is not the sole reason for the rise in injuries requiring sports rehabilitation, however. Many younger athletes are also engaging in sports specialization earlier in life, which can increase potential injury risks. Sports specialization is essentially the focusing of your time and effort towards an individual sport and training and competing in that sport year-round. This strategy of training -- especially when invoked at a young age -- can be very taxing on the body due to the reduced amounts of rest and recovery typically associated with the method.
One surgical procedure requiring sports rehabilitation is ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction -- more commonly known as Tommy John surgery. This procedure became somewhat common among college and professional baseball players, pitchers most of all, in the 80s and 90s. Due to the cumulative nature of the UCL injury, teenagers would rarely need the surgery -- until recently.
In the last decade there has been an influx of teens needing Tommy John surgery in order to continue on in their playing career. The reason for this sudden and sharp rise is that young baseball players have drastically increased the wear and tear on their arms due to the expectation of throwing better and faster at younger ages. Young pitchers are being taught to throw breaking balls and sidearm as early as 10 or 11 in some cases. Utilizing these advanced pitching techniques comes at price in the form of increased stress on your muscles and ligaments, a stress which teenagers' bodies are not quite prepared to face.
All of this results in an increased concern for parents to address their teenage athlete's possible sports rehabilitation needs for now and in the near future. The expectation is for this trend to continue as more and more emphasis is placed on children to excel at sports through increased training and competition.