The American University of Pediatrics issues a written report that says children are getting injured besides equally burned out from specializing in a single sport.

If yous want prove that kid athletes in the United states of america are suffering more injuries, you don't have to await whatsoever further than the Sports Medicine Clinic in Walnut Creek, California.

The facility, overseen by the University of California, San Francisco, Benioff Children'southward Hospital, has been open in a suburb east of San Francisco for almost three years.

Its primary purpose is to treat children, teenagers, and young adults who accept been injured while playing sports.

The center sees virtually i,500 young patients a calendar month for concrete therapy, surgery, and other treatments.

Dr. Nirav Pandya, managing director of sports medicine for the hospital and the clinic, estimates sixty percent of those patients come in because of injuries they've suffered from focusing on a single sport year-circular.

"Using those aforementioned muscles and joints at a immature age tin atomic number 82 to breakdowns," Pandya explained to Healthline.

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The Walnut Creek clinic is not an isolated example. It's part of a trend.

The American University of Pediatrics (AAP) released a report today that states children in the United States are facing a higher risk of "overuse injuries" from specializing in a single sport.

The report noted that about 60 one thousand thousand children ages six to xviii play in organized sports every year in the United states of america.

Of those young athletes, 27 percent participate in simply one sport.

AAP officials said some children begin their focus on ane sport as early as 7 years of age, playing yr-round on multiple teams every bit well as traveling squads.

AAP officials estimate almost 70 per centum of children drop out of organized sports by age 13.

Pandya said the most common injuries his dispensary sees involve knees, elbows, and shoulders.

He said soccer players, in detail girls, are prone to inflammation and even tears in the all-important anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Baseball players, in particular boys, tend to take elbow bug, while swimmers often incur shoulder injuries.

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The grind of playing but one sport all yr tin also produce mental issues for young athletes.

In its study, the AAP said stress and burnout are potential problems for single-sport athletes.

Pandya said medical professionals at his clinic notice young athletes non only having problems in their sports simply too with their homework and social life.

"The sport virtually feels like a task to them," he said. "There tin exist loftier levels of depression and the disability to complete tasks."

Dr. Joel S. Brenner, F.A.A.P., a study co-author and past president of the AAP Quango on Sports Medicine and Fitness, agreed.

He added that the cycle normally begins with the child wanting to play a sport. In one case they kickoff, it and then becomes crucial for parents to take care of the young athlete, equally well as for the coaches to train and guide them properly.

The children, he said, don't want to disappoint their parents, coaches, and fellow players, so information technology'south the adults that need to sentinel over them.

"It'due south the whole family. The parents, the kids, and the coaches," Brenner told Healthline. "Parents need to exist the advocate for their child."

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Both Pandya and Brenner said the tendency toward unmarried sports for children started about 15 years ago with the advent of traveling and social club teams.

The squads emerged because of the pressure for young children to become highly skilled at a sport so they would do well in high school and so obtain a college scholarship.

With this in heed, AAP officials made a number of recommendations for parents in their report.

They advised that sports specialization be delayed until a child is at least 15 years old. Younger children should be encouraged to participate in multiple sports.

Parents are besides encouraged to evaluate the grooming and coaching environments of "elite" youth sports programs.

Immature athletes should take three months off a twelvemonth (in i-month increments) from their main sports. They should also accept one to two days off a week from sports activeness to decrease the chances of repetitive injuries.

Brenner and Pandya said it's beneficial for children to compete in more i sport. It helps them mentally, and too exercises dissimilar groups of muscles and introduces skills that can be used in any able-bodied endeavor.

"You don't have to specialize to excel," said Brenner.

Officials at the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS) are in agreement with the AAP recommendations.

"It is of import to expose a child to different sports so they learn a diverseness of skills, meet a variety of other kids for socialization with kids having other interests, work various muscle groups for important physical and medical purposes," Emerge Johnson, executive director of the National Council of Sports, told Healthline.

She added that children who have a positive experience playing sports reap many rewards.

"Youth sports is the conduit through which children learn important life lessons, values, compassion, and good ethics," said Johnson. "It is that human relationship between sports skills and life skills that provides our immature athletes with the fundamentals they demand to succeed both on and off the playing field."