In a recent interview with Los Altos Town Crier Online, Dr. Tristan Juhan of Golden State Orthopedics & Spine discussed a concerning trend in youth sports: a significant increase in both the number and severity of injuries.

Injuries that were unusual in children just a few years ago are becoming commonplace as the pressure for young athletes to excel intensifies. Parents, coaches, and college scholarships combine with the athlete’s desire to play, and in the push to succeed, kids are getting hurt.

Severely injured athletes may require surgery for traumatic injuries or repetitive use wear and tear to developing joints. Knee and shoulder injuries are particularly common as they may result from various sports. A recent study from 2007 to 2022 showed a 30% increase in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) knee injuries.

“I think all of us, as sports physicians and team physicians, are concerned about the upward trend,” said Dr. Juhan, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine with El Camino Health System.

Many factors contribute to this rise in injuries, including early specialization in sports, increased competitiveness for college scholarships, and heightened sports training. Injuries are also more common and severe due to fatigue and increased strength and speed in competition. It used to be uncommon to see younger adolescent ACL injuries, but now kids as young as 12 and 13 needing surgery is not unusual. While ACL surgery is the most common, shoulder injuries from swimming and water polo, along with knee and shoulder injuries in volleyball from repetitive use, are also prevalent. For girls, soccer is the top sport for knee injuries, followed by basketball and lacrosse. For boys, knee injuries are most common in football, lacrosse, and soccer. There has also been an increase in the number of youth athletes requiring physical therapy from overuse injuries, ranging from elbow pain for baseball players to chronic shoulder pain for volleyball players due to continuous play from high school season into club season.

Dr. Juhan frequently hears from kids about the pressure to perform at their best, whether on the junior varsity team or playing travel volleyball during a recruitment year to get noticed for college. He hopes to encourage kids to communicate openly about their injuries to ensure they can continue playing safely.

“They are really worried about what the step ahead is and always just wanting to play,” Juhan said. “They always just want to play.”

Juhan urged parents and coaches to educate themselves about muscular training, preventative exercises, and body conditioning. He also recommends regularly checking in with youth athletes about their well-being.

“I think we need to be better at checking in with our young athletes about their level of fatigue, about soreness, about areas of pain, what’s good to play through, what’s not good to play through, and being honest about how our body feels and the amount of pressure we are putting on it,” Juhan emphasized. “I think the days of just gritting your teeth and playing through it or grinding out another game when you are putting yourself at risk are ideally moving out of our collective consciousness.”