The Health Risks Of Having Your Child Specialize In One Sport
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The number of children being injured playing sports continues to increase.
Many kids love sports. They can be fun and healthy, but science is showing many of the injuries are related to over-use.
Tennis players can end up with a lot of shoulder and elbow injuries, so can swimmers. Any sport where the same body part is used over and over again can be a problem. "They're doing repetitive motions in a vigorous way and that's leading to increased injuries in a formative time when they're not skeletally mature," said Dr. Daniel Morrissy, a sports medicine physician at Einstein Healthcare Network.
Dr. Morrissy said that over specialization (kids playing just one sport) can be dangerous.
"In soccer, we see a lot of hamstring injuries and increasing concussions in soccer and there's also stress related injuries.
"In today's society, a lot of coaches and parents like to have the kids specialize in sports. They want to concentrate on one sport," said former Eagles linebacker and SportsRadio 94WIP host Ike Reese.
Reese explained that while he focused on football, he did play different sports and thinks it's especially important for kids. "I like the idea of being able to play multiple sports," Reese said. "I think it helps you as an all-around athlete. It makes you a better athlete all around in my opinion."
Experts say if children are specializing in one sport, that should be limited to eight months and weekly training hours should be calculated around the child's age.
"So, someone who is 8-years-old should be doing no more than eight hours a week and you can kind of go up from there," Dr. Morrissy explained.
The science shows that if children are injured, you should wait until they're completely recovered before returning them to sports. Getting back too quickly can cause serious permanent injuries.
