Kids' Injuries:
Having too much fun
 Little League is in full swing or the football field is filled. Or It's high season for basketball, soccer
or tennis. At the local pool, teenagers race against the sweeping
hands of a trainer's stopwatch. Organized sports may seem an ideal way to keep
youngsters occupied and in shape, but in excess, they are to blame for what
some experts are calling an epidemic of overuse injuries.
"These injuries have become more common in the last 10 to 15
years," says Michael Ehrlich, MD, chief of orthopedics at Rhode
Island and The Miriam hospitals. "It's a result of the organized,
high intensity sports for kids."
Children, says Ehrlich, are playing sports too many hours a day, too
many days a week and too many months per year. "At sports camps, the
kids play for eight to 10 hours a day. The development of formalized
leagues has resulted in coaches making children undergo long practices.
Towns of all sizes now have indoor hockey rinks where kids can play all
year long."
Matthew McCrossan of North Kingstown
was one of those kids. "He had a fire burning inside him," says
his mother, Patricia. "He's always been an athlete, from the time he
was a little boy."
Matthew played soccer, basketball, baseball, and football-and by the
time he was in eighth grade, his passion for sports had caught up with
him. "He started having problems playing soccer," his mother
says. "Dr. Ehrlich found a hairline fracture in one of his knees and
said, 'No sports,' but that didn't sit very well with my son."
Matthew cut the soccer season short, but when basketball season
arrived, he joined a team. Eventually, he found himself in such pain he
was unable to run the length of the court. For eight weeks, he wore a cast
that stretched from hip to ankle, but it didn't stop him. A year later,
freshman football proved irresistible and he ended up with a cast on the
other leg.
How does it happen?
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