Young children tend to experience serious knee injuries when playing different sports either professionally or for fun. Some knee injuries can be correct with simple medical procedures while others cause permanent problems. The anterior cruciate ligament is one to the most sensitive parts of the knee because it stabilizes the knee joint. You should be careful to protect the children from these serious injuries when playing. There are several ways you can improve your kid’s safety regardless of the game they are playing.
You might first want to know why children might be at a higher risk of knee injury than an adult. There are different reasons why your child might get injured. Young children have slower response time compared to adults since they are still growing. A child might not react faster when they fall which increases their chances of getting hurt. Children have high chances of practicing dangerous turns and jumps when playing. They always imitate adults and want to showcase their skills.
Children mature at different rates, but they all play together. When kids of varying heights and body sizes play together, there may be injuries. Despite these risks of getting an injury, your child will continue playing with the other kids. Sports are important for the normal development of the child, and that’s why you should encourage them to play.
Now let’s start looking at the ways of protecting your child from knee injuries.
Make sure the children warm-up
Coaches and parents should ensure the children warm-up before starting the game. The children should be told the benefits of warming up when getting ready for the game. You should encourage the children to keep their muscles fully stretched and then warm on the sides. The duration of warming-up should depend on the type of the sport, the fitness of the players and the time of play. You do not want to the children to exhaust all their energy when getting ready.
Adhere to standard warm-up exercise. The exercises should aim at helping the children to build the muscles around the knee without hurting the ligaments. Some good exercises include squats, step-ups, and lunges. The children might require knee sleeves for these exercises. You might consider the best knee sleeves for support during the warm-ups. The best idea is to avoid exercises which require additional equipment.
The children can build the calf muscles by running and hopping in place. Remember these muscles are built well with knees bent. When legs are straight during this exercise, you might increase the chances of a knee injury. The children might not understand why they need to do this exercise. Explain to them comprehensively why each kind of exercise is important for the sport. If you fail to explain these benefits to the children, they may be reluctant to follow the procedures. A good understanding of why each exercise is important will encourage the children to do them in the future.
Teach them the rules of the sport
Most children tend to jump into the sport even without the knowledge of how the game is played. This aspect increases the chances of a knee injury. Every game has a set of safety rules which prevent the chances of getting an injury. Coaches and parents should thus try to teach children the specific rules of the sport. Start by teaching them the basic rules and test whether they have understood. Let them practice how to apply the rules in a real game setting. You might also want to teach the children about knee health and the importance of protecting knees from injuries.
Let the children play for a limited time
You will realize that young children love to play for a long time. It is good for the children to play for long, but do not let them overwork their knees. Drafting a routine is the best way to limit the time of playing a certain sport. Train the children to shift to another activity after playing for some minutes or hours depending on the sport.
Wear protective gear
The last method of preventing knee injuries is instructing the children to wear protective gear. Protective gear is anything that protects the body from getting hurt. Common protective gears include helmets and protective pads. The best knee sleeves are also desirable to prevent most kinds of knee injuries. Knee sleeves are beneficial because they offer the support necessary to prevent knee injuring when playing.