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| My motivation. |
An addition to my many physical therapy experiences due to crooked feet, my son is also a motivation to become a physical therapist. My 15 year old son has played highly competitive sports since fifth grade by his choice. He plays sports all year round that include basketball, football, and track. He will be a freshman this year starting on the junior varsity basketball team and varsity football and track team.
He has had his share of sports related injuries. In 6th grade his foot became tangled in the caution tape used at the finish line in a track meet. He fell on his wrist and fractured it in three places. In 7th grade during a basketball tournament, he was playing his third game of the day when he landed wrong after a lay up and rolled his ankle over. He severely sprained his ankle and shifted the fibula.
This is an injury that will probably cause him issues for the rest of his life. He now wears an ankle brace on his foot to prevent further damage. In 8th grade he pulled a groin during football practice. Of course, he had to have physical therapy to recover from these injuries. I became very observant of the number of his friends out on the court and field that have ankle and knee supports or braces. This observation fascinates me so much that I want to make preventing sports injuries in young athletes a mission of mine as a physical therapist. Today, I stumbled upon a campaign that shares my mission.
I learned from this article that according to the campaign, the majority of injuries occur during practice because athletes aren't taking the same precautions as they would when playing a game. I think this is true. My sons physical therapist has said to me before that the pressure to be the best and the rise of children playing sports all year round allows for very little down time to recover muscles. Physical therapist Stephanie Nino, whose company incorporates this campaign, says that patients aren't normally seen until the injury occurs. STOP Sports Injuries suggests that treatment should happen the moment the first signs of pain begin. The article also proved an opinion that I have had for a few years. Young athletes are not stretching properly or enough. I did learn there are different categories of stretching which led me to further research.
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Dynamic stretching is stretching that involves speed movement and momentum on the muscles such as marching toe touches. Nino says that at the slightest not right feeling in the muscle athletes should immediately begin a program where dynamic stretching happens before the activity. After the sport activity is over then static stretching needs to take place. Static stretching is the typical stretching to tension and holding it. Prolong stretching should be happening through the day and the onset of an injury needs to be treated with ice instead of heat.
This article was very interesting and encouraging. Knowing that there is a campaign that makes resources available for young athletes, parents, and coaches with the goal to prevent injuries has inspired me to become proactive now. Official football practice starts next week and I am going to present this information provided by the STOP Sports Injuries to the football coaches.
I wonder what you think of this campaign. Do you believe that injuries in young athletes are a problem? Feel free to comment below.
Click on the link below to read the full article "Stop Signs".
STOP Signs | PT Sports and Orthopedics News
For more information on STOP Sports Injuries, please visit http://www.stopsportsinjuries.org/
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