Children and Sports

Physical activity has marked physical and psychological benefits for children and adolescents. Sports is one of the best ways to encourage physical activity in a growing child. As children develop, their physiological make-up changes and Coaches, as well as parents must be cognizant of the changes that occur in children.

In growing children, injuries and medical problems involving the bones and joints as well as muscles and ligaments are usually quite different from conditions that are seen in adults.

These differences come about as a result of the different structural properties of tissues in children, adolescents as adults. Growing bone is more resilient and elastic withstanding greater deformity without fracture. Thus children tend to sustain incomplete or “greenstick” fractures rather than the badly displaced and complex ones that adults tend to have. Children also tend to heal faster and have a greater ability to “remodel” which means they are better able to recover even when the bone is severely angulated.