It’s bad enough when you suffer an injury like a rolled ankle when stumbling off a sidewalk, but a sports injury can bench an athlete and even ruin their career. Peak Health and Wellness regularly works with sports injury patients of all ages and abilities from professional athletes to little league stars. Spring has arrived, and with the season comes tennis injuries, baseball and software traumas, and knee pain from long cycling sessions or marathon training runs—but we’re here to help.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that more people than ever are taking part in organized sports. Every year, 30 million kids and adolescents participate in youth sports, and that figure has been steadily rising in recent years. With all of these new and budding athletes come a lot of new injuries. The CDC estimates that high school athletes make up 2 million injuries per year, which equates to 500,00 visits to the doctor and 30,000 hospitalizations.
The Reality of Sports Injuries
High school athletes are often hoping for a college scholarship or to go pro, and an injury at this age can devastate their career or college prospects. However, there are also over 3.5 million kids under 14 years old who undergo treatments for sports injuries each year. Children between the ages of 5 – 14 make up a whopping 40 percent of all sports injuries that are treated in hospitals, with injuries becoming more serious the older a child is.
Unfortunately, repetitive stress injuries are the cause of about half of sports injuries to athletes in middle school or high school. This can result in what we call tennis elbow, but “overuse injuries” are risky in nearly every sport. This is especially true during training season when athletes are encouraged to practice, practice, practice until their form is perfect. In fact, 62 percent of sports-related injuries that happen in organized sports happen in practice.
Treating Sports Injuries
The CDC reports that 20 percent of kids between 8 – 12 and 45 percent between 13 – 14 will have arm pain if they play youth baseball. Worse, sports are credited for 21 percent of traumatic brain injuries reported in children in the US. Over half of all sports injuries are preventable, and even more can be effectively and safely treated for patients who look beyond the basic treatments of pain medication and surgery.
It’s reported that 70 percent of kids stop playing organized sports by the time they’re 13 years old, but even at that young age an injury may have already occurred. The country has seen serious elbow and shoulder injuries increase five-fold since 2005 for athletes, mostly in those who play baseball and softball. While preventing these injuries in the first place is critical, the right treatment after an injury has occurred is just as important.
The exact treatment plan for sports injuries will vary from person to person and depends on the injury. The treatment for an IT band injury is going to be totally different than treatment for a herniated disc. However, some of the most popular treatments include, manipulation under anesthesia (especially for knee injuries), ARP Wave Therapy, and CBD topical solutions. CBD products have no THC (which means no “high” feeling and strictly pain management) and are safe and effective with no risk of dependency. These products can be a great tool for athletes looking for a non-addictive and natural way of soothing pain during recovery.
Wellness and Sports
Playing a sport, whether it’s distance cycling or soccer, inherently comes with risks. Athletes are in great shape, but they’re also regularly putting their body through the ringer and pushing themselves. Young athletes can be particularly at risk because they want to please their coaches and parents and haven’t yet developed the perfect ability to listen to their body. Promising young athletes shouldn’t have to abandon their dreams because of a treatable injury, and no athlete should feel permanently put off their game when options are available.
Find out more about preventing and treating sports injuries with an evaluation with “top doc” Alex J. Nelson, MD, Bryan Hainsworth, or our chiropractor Alex J. Nelson, MD. Call Peak Health and Wellness today at (801) 689-3389 and discover all the avenues you have to heal, recover, reduce pain, and get back in the game.