According to National Health Statistics Reports they have reported that there are 8.6 million knee injuries cases per year in the U.S. that are sports and recreation related. They have also reported that the knee injury rate were high in male (61.3%) and in age 5-24 years old (64.8%). These results were reported in 2016 so you can assume the number is may be higher now.
So the question comes why are there such a high rate of knee injuries? There are few reasons behind this.
First reason is people are getting overweight. With adult and child obesity increasing amount of pressure that impacting their knees would be higher. It is clear that participation for sports and recreation is rising in the U.S., which is good sign. Yet, because of poor eating habit and obesity, knees are getting more stress which leads to higher risk for injury.
Second reason is we are in seated position for long time. Now this does not mean that we are getting lazy. We are all working hard or studying hard but in seated position which will decrease the mobility of hip and ankle, which leads to decrease in knee mobility.
Then after work or school people go play sports like basketball, football, baseball, soccer and so on. How many people actually mobilize their hip, ankles and knees before the game? Not too many.
Sad part is coaches and team trainers are not paying attention to these things and scratching their head saying "why?".
Third reason is many are focusing on cure of the injuries and rather than prevention. Looking at data of knee injuries above, age range that are high is between 5-24 years old. What do most doctors, coaches and parents think in terms of strength training for the kids around 5 years old? Not much right? Or more like no way!!
Well, they've got it wrong.
It is very important to start strength training when they are young and hopefully before they start playing sports. Now notice I used the word "strength training" and not "weight training". Weight training is important too even for younger kids but strength training involves learning basic mechanics of exercise such as squats, push up, pull ups, deadlift and posture during all of the exercise. Then can transfer to weight training after learning the proper form.
All of my clients are not allowed to lift weights until they learn the form, which usually take about 2-3 sessions.
By the way, strength training mentioned above is not just for kids but also for everyone. Are you an outdoor person who hikes a lot? Do you workout on regular basis? If you want to keep that going, better start working on it NOW!!
How many kids do you see that are hunched over already and they are not even 10 years old? I was actually shocked to see kids with very poor posture when I had a chance to pick up my kids from school bus the other day. Poor posture does add more pressure to their knees because of how they stand. Guess what their knees are going through as they sprint across the court in basketball?
Yes, kids go through growth spurt and that can also play a role in increasing number of knee injuries. But that can be also prevented if the issue was properly addressed. Proper nutrition and exercise can help prevent injuries. I do understand that certain types of injuries may be unavoidable. But by solving issues addressed above can lower the risk of injuries.
Train smart!
Kota Shimada
Reference
Sheu, Yahtyng, et al. “Sports- and Recreation-Related Injury Episodes in the United States, 2011–2014 .” National Health Statistics Reports, vol. 99, 18 Nov. 2016, www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr099.pdf.
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