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 notgreatly 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 orchance, 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 formeaning 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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