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Children are becoming involved in
intensive athletic training at increasingly
younger ages. Many experts have
been concerned that the stresses
placed on the body by early athletic
training in childhood might interfere with
normal growth of the child as well as
impair his or her psychological and
social development. Their concern is
that the child athlete is different from
the adult in one important way: the
bones, heart, lungs, and muscles of the
child are all growing. They worry that
the high work load placed on these
organs during athletic training and
competition might impair their normal
functional development.
Research by exercise scientists has
indicated that, for the most part, these
concerns are ill-founded. The body of
the healthy child is strong and appears
to handle the stresses of exercise train-ing
without ill effects. Still, there are
special issues when a child becomes
involved in intensive sport training that
are important and bear careful
consideration.
MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES
Child athletes, like their adult counter-parts,
suffer from overuse injuries such
as muscle strains, shin splints, and lig-ament
strains. There has been con-cern,
however, that excessive training
that causes such minor injuries might
also affect the portion of the bones that
are responsible for normal bone growth.
Current research has failed to docu-ment
that this is a serious considera-tion.
Child athletes demonstrate normal
increases in height as they train, and
injuries to growth areas of bones are
exceedingly rare. Still, serious muscu-loskeletal
damage has been seen in the
elbows of Little League pitchers as well
as the wrist bones of intensively trained
child gymnasts. So some caution
appears to be justified. Reducing risk
of overuse injuries through proper
equipment and training regimens, and
not training through muscle and joint
pain make good sense for young
athletes.
There is some evidence that the growth
process itself may predispose to
overuse injuries. The muscles, bones,
and tendons of adolescents may not
develop at the same rate, and this can
result in a significant loss of flexibility
during the adolescent growth spurt.
This can be prevented by proper
stretching exercises.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL CONCERNS
Most experts recommend that children
participate in diverse sports activities
prior to puberty, even if a special tal-ent
is discovered early. Too early spe-cialization
often results in burn out of
the child before prime competitive age.
Young Olympic hopefuls must commit
major portions of their time developing
the skills necessary for elite-level com-petition.
The risk of interfering with nor-mal
social and psychological develop-ment
particularly in those youngsters
who reach stardom status at an early
age provides additional argument for
delaying intensive participation in a
particular sport during childhood.
REPRODUCTIVE FUNCTION
Girls who are actively training often
reach menarche at a later age than
those who are not athletes. Also, girls
who continue to train heavily have a
greater chance of experiencing men-strual
irregularities or even ceasing
menstruation altogether. These effects
of training do not appear to have any
adverse effects on future reproductive
function.
There is less research information avail-able
in males but sexual development
does not appear to be impaired by
intensive training in young boys. In
contrast to females, boys with early
sexual maturity tend to be better ath-letes,
particularly those involved in
sports that favor a large muscle mass
(football, wrestling).
RISKS FOR HEAT STRESS INJURY
Children have a greater body surface in
respect to their body weight, and they
also sweat less than adults do. For
these reasons young athletes may be at
higher risk for developing hyperthermia
when training in very hot, humid cli-mates.
Therefore, adequate replenish-ment
with fluids is particularly important
for children training in these conditions.
GUIDELINES
Young athletes can safely participate in
intensive sports training regimens, but
only if their involvement is carefully
monitored. Following these guidelines
will help assure a healthy and mentally
satisfying experience for the young
athlete:
1. The child himself or herself should
have the desire to participate. Sports
involvement for the young athlete
should not serve solely as a vicarious
pleasure for the parent or family.
2. To prevent injuries and optimize train-ing,
the child should be supervised
by an individual who is knowledge
able about proper training techniques
and equipment (usually not a
parent).
3. Early specialization in a sport at the
cost of exclusion of other athletic
activities should be discouraged at
least until the time of early
adolescence.
4. Injury prevention is particularly
important in growing children.
This will help protect against the
possibility of more serious injuries
occurring to bone growth centers.
5. The child athlete who is training
should have regular visits to a
physician. Information concerning
the possible medical complications
from training is far from complete,
and the young athlete should be
monitored for any unforeseen
adverse effects.
The Coaches Corner is a service of the
Gatorade Sports Science Institute ® .
For more information, contact:
Gatorade Sports Science Institute ®
617 West Main Street
Barrington, Illinois 60010
800-616-GSSI (4774)
http:// www.gssiweb.com/
email:gssi@gssiweb.com
Thomas Rowland, M.D., is director
of Pediatric Cardiology at Bay State
Medical Center Childrens Hospital in
Springfield, Mass.. He also serves as
a board member of the Gatorade
Sports Science Institute ® .
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