Three and a half million, that is
the number of injuries in one year sustained in youth sports alone (Sports
Injury Statistics). That is just over
ten percent of children and teens who participate in athletic activities
annually (1). It seems there used to be
fewer injuries, even just fifteen years ago.
Parents all the time talk about how there were fewer injuries in “their
day.” Though they may just seem to be
rambling, there may be some truth to this.
It does seem that more and more kids break bones, tear ligaments and
suffer concussions now a days. The main
cause of the heightened number of injuries is the increase of specialization
and high amounts of training for athletics and competitiveness becoming more intense
among youths. Let’s look at the history
and present of this epidemic and find ways to prevent injuries in the future.
Ever since the beginning of
civilization, children have been playing games. As society became more advanced, some of
these games became organized sports that people still play today such as soccer
in Europe or lacrosse in pre-colonial America.
These activities were not greatly organized and the equipment that was
used was crude to say the least. In any
activity, there is always a risk of injury.
In sports or other physical activities, there is an even greater risk of
injury because you are pushing your body to its limits and putting your body in
contact situations that could cause serious injury.
In the early to mid-1900s,
unorganized baseball and football or “backyard sports” was very popular among
youths. There were never really many
serious injuries; the most common accidents were minor with the likes of
twisted ankles, bruises, or a possible cut from broken glass in the empty
lot. Even in collegiate and professional
levels of sports, injuries were not a big concern at the time among players and
spectators alike. A big factor to that
were the medical practices at that time.
Doctors did not understand fully what a concussion was or the
seriousness of torn ligaments. If a
player felt hurt they would just sit out until the pain stopped not finding out
what the injury was or if they needed special care for it. Due to these malpractices many athletes have
either been handicapped for the rest of their lives or even died.
An area of concern for doctors today
is torn anterior cruciate ligaments (ACL).
This ligament connects the femur to the tibia and keeps the shin from
pulling away from the knee. The sport
where ACL injuries are most common is girl’s soccer (Youth Sports Injury
Report). Pediatric orthopedic
surgeon Dr. Nirav Pandya said, “It is the plague of female soccer
players...It’s almost the norm now” (1).
Dr. Pandya’s claim sheds light on the evidence that youths who overuse
their bodies for sports while they are still growing can be very harmful.
Another example of a common injury
due to over-used muscles and ligaments is the pitchers position in
baseball. Shoulder and elbow injuries
among youths have increased by five times since 2000 (2). Pitching is strenuous on the shoulder and if
over-worked it can lead to serious injury.
The competitiveness of baseball has increased drastically over the
course of the past ten to fifteen years.
Tens of thousands of high school baseball players fight just to get on
the school’s team. To be able to have a
chance of success, these student athletes work year-round with either select
teams or personal trainers. Many kids
who pitch do not let their shoulders fully rest between games wear them down
and make them much more susceptible to injury.
One epidemic of injuries occurred at
Bay Area Christian School last year. In
the beginning or the season, there were about thirty-five healthy players on
the team. However, three weeks before
the season was supposed to be over the remaining games had to be canceled due
to the number of injuries that year. By
the time the season was cut off, there were no more than fifteen players that
were fit to play. The first injury was
one the first day of padded practice and one of the seniors tore his ACL. The next wave of injuries came on the season
opener. Two players tore their meniscus,
another tore a ligament in his ankle, and one dislocated his shoulder. Throughout the season many more injuries came
to the team including concussions and more ankle injuries. Many believed that the wave of injuries that
season was because of bad luck or chance, but it might also have been due to
how little the team prepared in the off season.
As with every problem, an answer
must be found and for every disease, a cure, there must be a way to fight and
prevent numbers of youth sports injuries from skyrocketing as they have done in
the past twenty years (Youth Sports Injuries
Statistics). The sports where injuries were the greatest
were in baseball, football, and girl’s soccer (Youth Sports Injury Report).
To start to find the solution, one must look at the causes of the
problem. Two of the biggest contributors
to youths getting injured are overuse and specializing in a sport too
early. Now that a few sources are
identified, the epidemic can be stopped at the root instead of just trying to
treat results.
The competitiveness of youth sports
have been rising due to this increase in competition, kids will play sports
constantly and train hard in their off seasons to get better and try to beat
out others to get on club or school teams.
In cases, some athletes will be participating in one sport and will
simultaneously be training for another.
This puts too much stress on their bodies and is not healthy for
them. Other reasons for overuse can be
from parental pressure to work harder than other kids year-round to make those
teams. Though the principles of working
hard and dedication are not bad for youths to learn, the constant stress they
put on their bodies can make them more susceptible to injury.
The best way to combat overuse is to
let the athletes rest for a season and closely monitor the volume of activity
during the sports season. Kids’ bodies
are not as resilient in their growing stages and therefore need rest so that
they can reduce wear on bones and joints which will in turn lower the
probability of injury (Mudbug).
Physical activity is good for growing kids and should not be withheld
from them. However, parents should limit
the amount of highly strenuous activity their kids participate in. If youths are going one-hundred percent all
the time they will burn out and have wear on their bodies they cannot handle.
When young athletes find a sport
they like or are good at, they tend to focus all their athletic attention on
that one sport. They specialize in that
sport because they believe that if they work at that one sport all the time,
they could have the chance to possible play at collegiate or professional levels. Though this might increase the athlete's
skills for that sport, it may not help their overall bodily development. When an athlete specializes they are using
the same muscle groups and put stress on one area of the body. If they play different sports throughout the
year, they can put relief of some body parts while they work others (Mudbug). This can keep the youth physically active
without putting too much pressure on their bodies.
Absurd by definition is:
“ridiculously unreasonable, unsound or having no rational or orderly relationship
to human life” (Absurd). Albert Camus’
philosophy about life revolved around the second part of that definition. He strongly believed that life itself is
meaningless and nothing can bring meaning to a person (Maguire). Therefore, he believed that any search for
meaning in life was completely absurd (1).
For many people around the world,
sports can give them a sense of meaning and purpose. It is for this reason that athletes will work
hard to excel at the sports they love.
Camus would definitely be at odds with these people. He would think these people are being
unreasonable for trying to find meaning in just a mere game and encourage them
to accept the fact that they have no purpose in their lives and nothing could
ever bring them that purpose.
As for the high number of injuries
in sports, the absurd man would not try to fix anything about it. “The absurd hero (or man) takes no refuge in
the illusions of art or religion. Yet
neither does he despair in the face of absurdity- he does not just pack it all
in. Instead, he openly embraces the
absurdity of his conditions” (Maguire).
In context of our epidemic, he would only accept the state of the
victims and their injuries, realize that it is just a result of a natural
process, and do absolutely nothing about it.
Why try to solve a problem when there will be no lasting answer? Why try to heal and prevent an epidemic of
youth sports injuries when there will always inevitably be another injury, also
according to Camus, life is meaningless so why try to help any kind of
suffering or improve your condition of living.
This is how followers of Camus would approach this epidemic.
Every year millions of youths suffer
injuries while participating in athletic competitions
(Sports Injury Statistics). We found that the main causes for all these
injuries were overuse, increase of competition in youth sports, and specialization
to one sport. These cause kids to wear
themselves down and become more susceptible to injury. Solutions to this epidemic were straight
forward. Simply resting and letting the
athlete recuperate can help reduce injuries caused by overuse. Parents, coaches, and athletes can all work
together to combat this epidemic.
Work Cited
“Absurd.” Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 16
Apr. 2017.
International,
Inc. Advanced Solutions. "Youth Sports Injuries Statistics." Statistics. N.p., n.d.
Web. 15 Apr. 2017.
Maguire,
Laura. "Camus and Absurdity." Philosophy
Talk. N.p., 28 Feb. 2015. Web. 17 Apr.
2017.
Mudbug.
"Can Year-Round Sports Affect Your Child?" Michael
A. Gleiber, MD. N.p., 15 Jan.
2015. Web. 16 Apr. 2017.
Sports Injury
Statistics | Johns Hopkins Medicine Health Library. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Feb.
2017.
Youth Sports Injury Report - 60 Minutes Sports -
11/4/14. Perf. Sharyn Alfonsi and Nirva
Pandya. 60 Minutes, 2014. Online Video.
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