HOUSTON — From soccer to basketball to gymnastics and swimming, kids of all ages can enjoy picking up a sport. It's all fun and games until your little one gets hurt. Health experts have some tips to help keep kids off the injured list.
Sports can teach youngsters so much -- teamwork, leadership, resilience -- but constant training and competition with no time off for healing can also teach them about pain. Donique Williams said her 17-year-old son Bryson was pushing his young body a bit too much. "Sprained ankle .
.. constant sprained ankle.
I would say a couple of leg issues that we're looking into right now," she said. "He had just went from cross-country into basketball season and into track was doing two sports at one time." Doctors are concerned that a lot of student-athletes are overdoing it, especially with the popularity of year-round sports, leading to over-use injuries.
"Some of these over-use injuries can progress to fractures when not taken care of properly and that's more of a concern that I see," Dr. Angie Curtis said. Curtis is a pediatric sports medicine specialist with UT Physicians.
She said younger kids -- pre-teens -- are most at risk of injury. "Kids' bodies are still developing. They don't tolerate the stresses of these repetitive motions the same way that older kids and adults do and their bones can suffer from it," Curtis said.
She said a lot of the injuries are preventable by making sure the kids are taking some time off. "So if they're not getting,.