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How to Help Your Kids Prevent Football Injuries

How to Help Your Kids Prevent Football Injuries

by | Aug 27, 2024 | Sports Medicine

Even as awareness of concussions and other problems has grown, football remains the most popular sport for adolescent boys. While participation has dropped, Texas still has the most high school football players of any state – totaling more than 170,000. That’s almost double the number of players in California, which has the second largest population of players. It’s no surprise that the sport remains so popular in a state known for “Friday Night Lights.” Yet while rule changes have modified risks, football injuries are still common. Scottish Rite for Children has advice to help your kids avoid some of these common sport injury problems.

Common Injuries in Football

Football has the highest injury rate among school sports. Most youth sports injuries are muscle, joint or bone injuries including:

Other common injuries in football are concussions and heat-related injuries, such as dehydration and exertional heat stroke.

Protective Equipment Is Key

Tackle football players wear pads for a reason. If your child is playing on a team that does not have the resources of a varsity-level squad, make sure they practice with the correct gear including:

  • Properly fitting helmet approved by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment
  • Leg (thigh and knee) pads
  • Mouthguards
  • Cleats that are the correct size and fit
  • Shoulder pads
  • Protective cups

Some players may also wrap their wrists, ankles or knees with tape or bracing. Protective braces (i.e. knee brace or ankle brace) may decrease the risk of injury in some athletes. However, custom outer knee braces have not yet been proven to lower injury outcomes.

Practice Makes (Almost) Perfect

Proper training may also reduce injury risk. While your child’s coach determines what happens at practices, you can help your child learn ways to reduce the risk of football injuries all year long by:

  • Encouraging moderate off-season conditioning. Staying in shape throughout the year with cardiovascular exercise and strength training is great for your child’s health overall and may reduce the risk of injuries when they head back to the field.
  • Getting a physical. A pre-season assessment by your child’s pediatrician or sports medicine specialist can ensure that your child is healthy enough to play and raise any areas of opportunity for addressing musculoskeletal complaints before training begins.
  • Promoting hydration. Not only does proper hydration help prevent heat-related injuries, it’s also important for peak performance and maintaining a proper tackling technique. 

Encouraging your child to play different sports during the offseason can also help prevent overuse injuries while keeping them active and conditioned. Playing multiple sports has been shown to be associated with improved performance and reduced injury risk.

What About Concussions?

Whether your kids are linemen or quarterbacks, concussions are a risk during games and practice. Although some full contact drills have been banned from youth practice to reduce concussion risk, 63% of concussions in high school football players do happen from tackling, even during practice. Helmets do not prevent concussions, regardless if they are the best rated helmets on the market. Delaying tackling until the age of 14 is advised by some, however, there are ways to make the sport safer for young athletes. If your child is playing tackle football, make sure the coaches:

  • Limit tackling during practice.
  • Teach safe tackling tactics.
  • Remove the child from play immediately whenever a concussion is suspected.
  • Always follow established return to play guidelines after a concussion.
  • Have a doctor and/or athletic trainer on the sidelines to evaluate players during games after a possible concussion.

Talk to the Coaches

Coaches are an important part of football injury prevention. Before signing your child up for a league, ask the coaching staff questions to ensure injury prevention is part of their philosophy such as:

  • Do you encourage injured players to keep playing or take time off to recover?
  • If my child has a possible concussion, what is the protocol at the time of the injury and when it is time to return to play?
  • Does your child have their own water available?
  • How do you teach sportsmanship and fair play?
  • What type of tackles and drills do you run during practice?
  • Will practice be rescheduled or held indoors if the weather is extremely hot or severe storms are expected?

Only you can decide if a coach’s temperament and attitude toward the game is the right fit for your child — or if football is even a good option for your family. But with a proactive coaching staff, a supportive home and your sports medicine team at Scottish Rite, you can help limit the risk of a sports injury in football for your child.

Want more advice on preventing or treating football injuries for your child? Call 469-515-7100 to schedule an appointment with one of our sports medicine specialists at Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center.

Does my child need surgery to fix an ACL tear?

Does my child need surgery to fix an ACL tear?

by | Jul 30, 2024 | Sports Medicine

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries, continue to challenge young athletes, many calling it an epidemic. Because of the high cost of care and loss of playing time, Scottish Rite for Children’s Sports Medicine team is actively looking for answers to prevent these injuries. As we study the conditions that may contribute to the risk with programs like the Sports-specific Assessment and Functional Evaluation (SAFE) program, we also continue to evaluate and contribute to the available evidence for caring for ACL injuries in young athletes.

Medical director of clinical research and pediatric orthopedic surgeon Henry B. Ellis, M.D., led a multicenter team including others from the Scottish Rite Sports Medicine team just published a critical analysis of the literature pertaining to the management of pediatric ACL injuries. The article is available on the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgeries (JBJS) Reviews site.

Here are some key messages you should know when considering surgery for an ACL tear:

» Even though these are happening at a high rate, there is very little published evidence for managing ACL injury in a pediatric or skeletally immature case.

Studies suggest that as many as 3 out of 4 athletes return to play after completing a nonoperative plan of care after ACL injury, but there are times that surgery is necessary. A physical therapist or athletic trainer can guide rehabilitation with a comprehensive exercise program to prepare an athlete to return to competitive sports with an ACL tear.

» This review suggests that surgery for an ACL reconstruction is recommended when another condition is present. These include:

  • Repairable injury to the cartilage, soft tissue that covers the surface of the bone.
  • Repairable injury to the meniscus, a disc between the two major bones in the knee joint.
  • Symptoms of instability even after high quality rehabilitation.

Since both paths for care can be successful and come with some risk, a decision for surgical or nonsurgical approaches to care for a pediatric ACL reconstruction should include a broad team considering many aspects of the circumstances.

Learn more about individualized care for ACL injuries at Scottish Rite for Children.
 

Ellis, H. B., Jr, Zak, T. K., Jamnik, A., Lind, D. R. G., Dabis, J., Losito, M., Wilson, P., & Moatshe, G. (2023). Management of Pediatric Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries: A Critical Analysis. JBJS reviews, 11(8), 10.2106/JBJS.RVW.22.00223. https://doi.org/10.2106/JBJS.RVW.22.00223

Share Your Story: Anthony’s Goal

Share Your Story: Anthony’s Goal

by | Feb 27, 2020 | Sports Medicine

Meet Anthony, a patient seen by our Sports Medicine experts. Learn more about his journey below.

Blog written by Anthony’s mom, Daisy, of Dallas, Texas. 

When Anthony was 12 years old, he tore his ACL while playing soccer. At the time, he saw an orthopedic doctor who simply referred him to do physical therapy. He believed that due to Anthony’s age, surgery would not be an option. He suggested we wait a couple of years to give Anthony’s growth plates time to close before undergoing surgery.

I did some research and found Scottish Rite for Children where Anthony was able to be seen by Dr. Wilson. He immediately thought Anthony would be a candidate for a special ACL reconstruction procedure that would not harm the growth plates.

Following his surgery, Anthony had to do a good amount of physical therapy. That entire team was amazing. Getting a teenager to do uncomfortable exercises can be a challenge, but they pushed and encouraged Anthony throughout the process. The physical therapists didn’t simply give him exercises on a sheet on paper – they motivated him and helped make the rehab easier. Nine months after his surgery, he was able to play soccer again and came back stronger and better than ever – scoring three goals in that game!
 
Now at 16, Anthony is going strong and still loves to play soccer. I would encourage other families, that are in similar situations, to research and seek second opinions. Had we not seen Dr. Wilson, Anthony would have stopped playing soccer because that is what the first doctor thought was best.  

Anthony is forever grateful to Dr. Wilson and his team for helping get him back to what he loves – soccer.

Our family is thankful for continued education and research that Scottish Rite does on a daily basis.

DO YOU HAVE A STORY? WE WANT TO HEAR IT! SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US.

A New Approach in ACL Reconstruction Helps to Reduce Re-injury in High Risk Population

A New Approach in ACL Reconstruction Helps to Reduce Re-injury in High Risk Population

by | Nov 27, 2019 | Sports Medicine

Recently, Assistant Chief of Staff Philip L. Wilson, M.D., and pediatric orthopedic surgeon Henry B. Ellis, M.D., published a novel technique for treating an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury. 

Too many young and growing athletes who have an ACL injury and reconstruction reinjure the same leg or have a new injury in the opposite leg within two years of the initial reconstruction. In fact, the rate of re-injury can be as high as one out of every four (25%). “Young children and adolescents are the most challenging to treat after an ACL injury because their growth plates are still open,” says Wilson. “Because of this and their commitment to returning to a high level of activity, they require special techniques to both allow continued growth and give them the best chance of not re-tearing.” 

Since 2012, our team has been studying the results of a unique approach for this surgery. Our experts have combined a surgery intended for younger children (less than 12 years old) with a commonly used procedure for an older child. This approach has resulted in a reduced rate of re-injury to approximately 5% compared to 25%.

While allowing for uninterrupted function of the growth plates, the technique provides additional support when compared to other treatments for this rapidly growing population. The technique adds both additional lateral knee support as well as added ACL graft size, both of which have been demonstrated to reduce the risk of ACL reinjury. The reduced rate of secondary ACL injury in the study are less than half of any other reported results in a similar group. In many cases, ACL injuries take very young athletes out of play for a year. This important step in reducing the risk of secondary injury helps to ensure that athletes can stay active once they are cleared to return. 

“This surgical technique is very promising,” says Ellis. “As an institution committed to innovation, we are proud of the work that has gone into this project. It is rewarding to help athletes get them back to doing what they love and know that they have a much lower risk of re-injury.”

This research study was presented at the 2019 annual meetings of two prestigious organizations: Pediatric Orthopedic Society of North America and the American Orthopedic Society of Sports Medicine. The manuscript has also published in a highly rated, peer-reviewed journal American Journal of Sports Medicine. The data include outcomes from this procedure in almost 60 athletes (age 11-16 years) collected over a five-year period. The combined TPH/ITB technique has a low re-injury rate (5.3%) and high return to sport rate (91%) and a low risk of minor growth-related changes (5.5%).

Learn more about the ongoing research in the Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine.