Are there risks for early specialization in young athletes, and if so, is there a better developmental pathway? Andrew Hamilton explores the pros and cons of single-sport participation.
Practice makes perfect – or so they say. However, can young athletes have too much of a good thing when it comes to youth sport? For busy student-athletes, specializing in a single sport to the exclusion of other sports or physical pastimes is simply a function o
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Bio-banding and altering training parameters play a role in preventing injury in very young athletes. Tracy Ward explains the developmental basis for these strategies and how to incorporate them into your youth training and rehab programs. Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay Three processes characterize youth development from birth to adulthood(1): Growth refers to the changes in body composition,... MORE
Age and maturity may put younger athletes at risk for certain types of injuries. Jason Tee explains how development impacts injury risk and examines how to support young athletes for life-long activity. While increasing age increases overall injury risk in athletes, clinicians may misinterpret that fact and ignore the injury risk in the young(1). Indeed,... MORE
Lack of compliance with injury prevention programs impacts their effectiveness. Jason Tee outlines how to improve buy-in and keep athletes off the injured list. Athletes want to spend their time training effectively. They often fail to see the benefit of injury prevention activities when they don’t contribute to improved performance. The importance of injury... MORE
Hamstring injuries frequently plague soccer players. Andrew Hamilton looks at potential screening tests to identify athletes at an increased risk of hamstring failure and determines their worth to those seeking to avoid this debilitating injury. Hamstring strain injuries (HSIs) are one of the most common soccer injuries(1). Research suggests that HSIs account for around one... MORE
Female athletes suffer more sports injuries than their male counterparts. Jason Tee explores the reasons behind the high injury rates and discovers some surprising facts that turn the female frailty narrative on its head. The times are changing for women’s sport. Once treated as merely a curtain-raiser to the main event, women’s sport has taken... MORE
Nearly 85% of runners experience a running injury in their lifetime(1). While researchers continue to look for exact mechanisms of injury in runners, a group from the Netherlands investigated the factors that make an injury prevention program successful(1). They undertook a randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of a multifactorial online prevention program for recreational... MORE