{"id":1411,"date":"2014-03-19T00:46:47","date_gmt":"2014-03-18T23:46:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/injury-prevention\/?p=1411"},"modified":"2014-03-19T00:46:47","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T23:46:47","slug":"preventing-overuse-not-just-acute-and-traumatic-injuries-matters-in-youth-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/injury-prevention\/2014\/03\/19\/preventing-overuse-not-just-acute-and-traumatic-injuries-matters-in-youth-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"Preventing overuse, not just acute and traumatic, injuries matters in youth sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cross Fertilising Injury Prevention (IP) and the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Readers of this journal would be fully aware of international definitions of injury based on the energy-exchange causation theory proposed by early injury researchers such as Haddon<\/a>. Such definitions have led much prevention research to focus on acute traumatic injuries only. In this work, injury has been defined as any physical complaint that is caused by the inability of the body\u2019s tissues to maintain its structural and\/or function integrity following a transfer of energy to the body (e.g. from an impact, sudden movement, repeated force, etc.). For acute and traumatic injuries, this inability to withstand the energy transfer is manifested within a relatively short period following the inciting event. For this reason, studies analysing medical presentations for injury, especially at emergency departments and hospital settings, has provided a strong epidemiological basis to underpin preventive research, including in sport.<\/p>\n

In the context of sports participation, however, injury prevention depends just as much upon the ability of the athlete\u2019s body to tolerate repeated exposures to injury risks whilst remaining active in sport. Therefore, it is not just injuries associated with acute events that are problematic. Overuse injuries, that are not associated with a single inciting event and with symptom onset developing over time, also occur. As an example in other contexts, this has previously been reported in this journal by Wilkinson et al in the context of British infantry injury rates<\/a>, for which only 83% of all injury diagnoses were associated with traumatic inciting events.<\/p>\n

The British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) Volume 48, Issue 4 <\/a>recognises the importance of overuse injuries in youth sports, through its publication of a position statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine<\/a> on this important topic. There has been a general trend over recent years for increasing amounts of high-intensity training and competition in sport to be undertaken by youth, especially by those motivated to pursue careers in sport. However, such activities, when not balanced with appropriate physical load management and skill development, can lead to high rates of overuse injuries.<\/p>\n

The Overuse Injuries and Burnout in Youth Sports<\/a> position statement emphasises the following strategies to prevent overuse injuries:<\/p>\n