{"id":44215,"date":"2025-07-22T11:33:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:33:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/?p=44215"},"modified":"2025-07-22T11:33:57","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T18:33:57","slug":"be-cautious-of-repetitive-overuse-injuries-in-youth-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/news\/be-cautious-of-repetitive-overuse-injuries-in-youth-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Be Cautious of Repetitive Overuse Injuries in Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article\">\n\t<header class=\"header\">\n\t\t<span class=\"type\"><\/span>\t\t<h1>Be Cautious of Repetitive Overuse Injuries in Youth<\/h1>\t\t<time>July 22, 2025<\/time>\n\t<\/header>\n\t<div id=\"block_278928e6733961c7f65bea0bad16b5c3\" class=\"shs-block block-news-article entry-content\">\n\t\t<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"acf-innerblocks-container\">\n\n<p>Engaging in sports is a good way for children and teens to stay fit and develop social connections. However, their growing bones make them more susceptible to injury, particularly when muscles are repeatedly overused to the point of pain and inflammation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDuring episodes of growth in children and adolescents, it is not uncommon for the lengthening of a bone to outpace growth of related muscles and tendons. This irregular growth rate can leave muscles and tendons tight and inflexible and more susceptible to injury,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/patients-visitors\/find-a-doctor\/pash-james-1245893353\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Pash, DO<\/a>, of <a href=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/find-a-location\/mid-valley-childrens-clinic\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-type=\"location\" data-id=\"5060\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mid-Valley Children\u2019s Clinic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When a muscle group, such as those of the shoulder, knee, wrist or finger, are repeatedly used without proper stretching or adequate rest, injury can occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe see repetitive overuse injuries most often in young athletes who are repeatedly using muscles specific to their sport, such as shoulder injuries in swimmers or knee injuries in runners, but these injuries can also affect musicians and gamers \u2014 anyone really,\u201d Dr. Pash explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Symptoms can include pain, swelling, throbbing or numbness at the area of the overworked muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOverused and inflamed muscles need rest. Without rest, the inflammation builds up and can lead to more serious injuries like a tear or fracture,\u201d said Dr. Pash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These injuries can occur when a person trains too much or uses improper training techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cParents should make sure their child\u2019s coaches are training them gradually and teaching proper stretching techniques with warmups and cool-downs, icing muscles after activity, and stressing the importance of taking time off each week from training for the body to rest and recover,\u201d noted Dr. Pash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;Additionally, cross-training can help strengthen muscle throughout the body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt is not a good idea for a child to specialize in only one sport before high school,\u201d Dr. Pash explained. \u201cParticipation in multiple activities strengthens and develops more of the body\u2019s muscles, whereas only one sport tends to develop muscles specific to that activity. With broader conditioning, a child will be at less risk of repetitive injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Talk with your child\u2019s health care provider if you have concerns about repetitive strain injury. James Pash, DO, see patients at Mid-Valley Children\u2019s Clinic. He can be reached at 541-812-5111.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<aside>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"360\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kids-at-the-edge-of-a-swimming-pool.jpg\" class=\"attachment-cta size-cta wp-post-image\" alt=\"A group of happy kids at the edge of a swimming pool.\" srcset=\"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kids-at-the-edge-of-a-swimming-pool.jpg 360w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kids-at-the-edge-of-a-swimming-pool-300x250.jpg 300w, https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Kids-at-the-edge-of-a-swimming-pool-120x100.jpg 120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 360px) 100vw, 360px\" \/><\/figure>\t\t<\/aside>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn how to protect your student athlete from repetitive overuse injuries with tips from pediatrician James Pash, DO, with Mid-Valley Children\u2019s Clinic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":44216,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":"","_shs_workflow_notes":"This is one of two H2H stories that I was asked to post as a draft for your as needed.","_shs_exclude_from_navigation":false,"_shs_promote_article_on_blogs":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"news-topics":[277,293],"news-types":[270],"services":[255],"specialty":[19],"class_list":["post-44215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","news-topics-childrens-health","news-topics-wellness","news-types-feature-article","services-pediatrics","specialty-pediatrics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44215"},{"taxonomy":"news-topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-topics?post=44215"},{"taxonomy":"news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-types?post=44215"},{"taxonomy":"services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/services?post=44215"},{"taxonomy":"specialty","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/samhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/specialty?post=44215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}