3 Tips to Prevent Youth Sports Injuries

When it comes to preventing youth sports injuries, it is very simple. Here are 3 tips that the coach, parents, and youth can use in order to prevent injuries.

1) Stretch

The first tip for avoiding any type of injury in sports is to stretch before and after. Studies have shown that you can lower your chances of having an injury if you stretch before practice and after practice. Stretching is very important for the muscle groups because it prepares your muscles to do some type of activity. When stretching, you are actually warming up the muscles. As a result, when you begin the activity, your muscles are not caught off guard. You also are getting the blood to flow through your muscles when you stretch. This is very important because every sport has the potential to cause a lot of wear and tear on the body. For these reasons, stretching should be considered mandatory for every youth that plays sports and used as a method to prevent injury.

2) Use proper equipment

The second tip to preventing injuries is to use the proper equipment. Usually if you play an organized team sport, the coach passes out the equipment to the team. For the most part you will buy your own equipment for the sport your son or daughter is playing. In sports like: football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and tennis you often buy your own shoes. You should buy the best and safest equipment on the market. I know a lot of the shoes on the market are very expensive but the medical bill can be more expensive. Shoes and other equipment such as knee pads, mouthpieces, shin guards, goggles, and other safety equipment can be essential to preventing injury.

3) Ice and heat

It is common that young people will at some point sustain a minor injury that requires little or no medical attention. These injuries can include minor muscle aches and pains. However, if ignored completely, these minor things can become more serious problems that can lead to sports injury.

For this reason, I recommend applying ice and heat the body parts that are either aching or stiff. If your son or daughter sprains their ankle, they should ice their ankle to prevent swelling from happening. When your son or daughter ices their ankle, they should elevate their ankle and keep an ice pack on their ankle. If he or she wakes up and their ankle feels stiff, they should heat their ankle with a hot pack or towel. If pain persists for three to four days, I would suggest an immediate examination by a physician.