Overuse injuries and burnout in youth sports can have long-term effects

Youth sports has led to intense training, frequent competition and early single sport specialization, overuse injuries and burnout have become common, which could have long-term effects.

Lead author John P. DiFiori, M.D., Chief of Sports Medicine and Non-Operative Orthopaedics at UCLA, and AMSSM President, said that not only are overuse injuries in young athletes likely much more common than is realized, these injuries can require lengthy recovery periods, and in some cases, they can result in long-term health consequences.

The full report, entitled, Overuse Injuries and Burnout in Youth Sports: A Position Statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, was developed through a systematic literature search initially yielding nearly 1,000 articles, followed by author analysis.

The findings reveal that the current literature, which reports overuse injuries comprise 50 percent of sports injuries, underestimates the burden of these injuries, since many do not result in time loss from sport.

In addition, this new report highlights several specific higher-risk overuse injuries that may result in prolonged recovery and have the potential to endanger future participation. Although infrequent, some may lead to long-term complications.

The paper also emphasizes that there are several unique risk factors for overuse injuries and burnout in children and adolescents. Social, emotional, cognitive and physical factors all play a role.