Your new post is loading...
Focusing too much on playing one favorite sport probably isn’t a good idea for kids under 12, researchers report. That’s because specializing in a single sport seems to increase a child’s risk of injury, researchers say.
“Young athletes should participate in one competitive sport per season, and take at least three months off (non-consecutive) from competition per year,” said the study’s leader, Dr. Neeru Jayanthi. He’s a physician with Emory Sports Medicine and an associate professor of orthopaedics and family medicine at Emory University in Atlanta.
For the study, Jayanthi’s team assessed the risk of sports-related injuries among nearly 1,200 young athletes. After tracking their training schedules over the course of three years, the investigators found that nearly 40 percent of the athletes suffered an injury during the study period. The findings also showed that injured athletes began specializing in one sport at an average age younger than 12 years. In addition, nearly two-thirds of these athletes in highly specialized sports sustained a repeat injury. Athletes who didn’t sustain injuries began to focus on one sport when they were older than 12, on average, according to the report.
It's common for athletes to participate in strict training exercises in order to enhance their performance on a single sport, however, research studies revealed that the case may not be the same for children and young athletes. Evidence suggests that kids who focus too much on playing a single sport may experience more sports injuries. For more information, please feel free to ask Dr. Jimenez or contact us at (915) 850-0900.