Sports participation is popular among teens, but young athletes are also more prone to overuse injuries. Overuse injuries are chronic injuries that occur with repetitive stress on the musculoskeletal system over the course of time without allowing time for adequate recovery. Young athletes are more prone to overuse injuries due to the stress placed on growing bones. About half of the injuries seen by pediatric sports medicine clinics are associated with overuse injuries. It is important if your child is playing sports to know what to watch for.

The most common overuse injuries are irritation of the growth plate (apophysitis), tendon problems, stress fractures and knee pain. The injuries young athletes sustain are different from adults due to the growing skeleton and open growth plates. Signs of an overuse injury include pain, decreased performance, limping, swelling and joint pain during an activity or recurring stiffness afterward. Factors that contribute to an overuse injury are less-than-perfect body mechanics, not having the strength or conditioning to meet training demands, early specialization in one sport and overtraining.

Some examples of injuries that occur in certain sports are:

— Baseball: shoulder and elbow injuries linked to pitching

— Basketball: jumper’s knee

— Gymnastics: back, elbow and ankle injuries

— Running: plantar fasciitis and knee injuries

— Soccer: knee and ankle injuries

— Tennis: elbow injuries

— Volleyball: jumper’s knee.

Sever’s disease is an inflammatory condition of the growth plate in the heel bone and often occurs during adolescence when children hit a growth spurt. Osgood-Schlatter Disease is a condition where kids have pain at the front of the knee due to inflammation of the growth plate at the upper end of the tibia. Jumper’s knee is pain in the lower portion of the kneecap. Medial apophysitis causes pain at the bony bump on the inside of the elbow. Osteochondritis is pain at the outside of the elbow. Stress fractures occur when muscles become fatigued and transfer the overload of stress to bones. Most stress fractures occur in weight-bearing bones of the lower leg and foot. Stress reaction of the growth plates leads to irregularity or widening of the growth plate. Sprains and strain are injuries to the ligaments and tendons.

The treatment for all these overuse injuries is rest, NSAIDS, sometimes ice and sometimes a brace or a splint. If the pain from these injuries does not go away after a few days of rest, then your child needs to see their health care provider. Stress fractures take six to eight weeks to heal and may need a cast or a brace to help them heal. Physical therapy exercise may be needed to help restore strength and mobility. Many of these overuse injuries can be prevented by limiting the number of teams your child plays on in one season, not allowing your child to play one sport year-round. Taking a three-month break and playing other sports is essential to skill development and injury prevention. Young athletes also need to know when to speak up if they are feeling pain or discomfort when participating in sports.

Candice Hutchins is an RN at the Health West Pediatric Clinic. She has been a nurse for 19 years and loves working with kids. She enjoys reading, cross-stitching and being with her family.