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Causes of Sports Injuries in Children

There are several reasons which can cause injuries in children. These depend on children and the sport they play. Age and reaction time are two factors which cause injuries among children below eight years of age. But these change with age and time as children grow.

Some of the causes of injuries in children are:

Size of Children

Kids mature at different rates. Those less than eight years of age are less coordinated and have slower reaction times than adults because they are still growing and developing. Often there's a substantial difference in height and weight between kids of the same age. And when kids of varying sizes play sports together, there may be an increased risk of injury.

Also as kids grow bigger and stronger, the potential for injury increases, largely because of the amount of force involved.

Time Spent

Sport injuries are becoming more common in children as the length of sports seasons increase and the level of play intensifies. As a result of overdrawn schedules and tedious training sessions, cases of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears – once thought to be primarily an adult injury are now routinely seen in Children's pediatric orthopedic clinics.

In fact, nowadays middle school age girls playing high-level soccer and basketball appear to be particularly vulnerable to ACL tears, sustaining four to eight times as many ACL disruptions as boys of the same age. Falling from a bicycle or twisting during play can also produce an ACL tear.

Nature of Sport

Football:

Those playing football are susceptible to bruises, sprains, strains, pulled muscles, soft tissue tears such as ligaments, broken bones, internal injuries (bruised or damaged organs), back injuries, sunburn.

For players, knees and ankles are the most common injury sites.

Basketball:

Children playing this sport are vulnerable to sprains, strains, bruises, fractures, scrapes, dislocation, cuts and dental injuries.

Ankles, knees and shoulder are three regions which are mostly injury prone among basketball players.

Soccer:

Children playing soccer mostly suffer from bruises, cuts and scrapes, headaches and sunburns.