Why You Need to Stop Giving Energy and Sports Drinks to Kids
Last updated on September 16th, 2018 at 02:59 pm
First let’s differentiate between these two popular drinks. Sport drinks have water, sodium, potassium and sugar (among other things), while energy drinks include caffeine or other stimulants. For the most part, after moderate exercise, only water needs to be replaced and free access to water is key to training athletes. While large amounts of water can be lost in highly trained athletes, younger children will probably not lose an exceptional amount of anything, and water is the only thing necessary. Even in adult trained athletes, the amount of sodium and potassium lost through sweating is probably negligible; again water is the vital component needing replacement.
Also included in these drinks is a significant amount of calorie- containing sugars; highly trained athletes who have depleted their sugar resources might benefit from this addition as an immediate energy boost, but in younger children and non-training athletes, this only adds to the sugar intake and can contribute to childhood obesity and dental cavities. These same stimulants can be found in coffee and colas, also to be avoided in younger children.
The use of stimulants in children probably has more unwanted side effects than the possibility of any positive effects. Jitteriness, poor sleep, elevated blood pressure, and increased risk of dehydration through the diuretic effects of caffeine and other stimulants, can be just a few of these negative effects. Depending on the quantities consumed, it can even lead to cardiac irregularities with other potentially serious consequences resulting from that
Unfortunately, these products are promoted in every form of advertising by highly popular athletes in high profile positions and many parents have gotten the idea to have these drinks readily available for their children. Children may actually prefer this substitute fluid in place of other drinks during meals and other snack times. Milk and some juices are still important to the growing, developing child and should not be forgotten. By far the most important ingredient remains water and parents should promote it as the primary source of fluid intake.
Energy or health bars create the same dilemmas for parents and children and may also contain sugar, stimulants, fats, and vitamins and minerals that may not be appropriate for children or may be over the daily recommended intake for children since most are developed for adults.
Always read the labels carefully
Child Sports Injuries: How to Prevent and Treat The Most Common
Last updated on July 3rd, 2020 at 03:07 pm
The school year will soon be upon us and with the return of homework and uniforms means the 
return of sports. 38 million children and adolescents participate in organized sports in the United States each year. Still more participate in informal recreational activities. Although sports participation provides numerous physical and social benefits, it also has a downside: the risk of sports-related injuries. In fact, according to a 2002 report by the Centers for Disease Control, nearly 1.9 million children under 15 were treated in emergency departments the year before for sports-related injuries.
These injuries are by far the most common cause of musculoskeletal injuries in children treated in emergency departments. They are also the single most common cause of injury-related primary care office visits.
I. The Most Common Sports-Related Injuries in Kids
Although sports injuries can range from scrapes and bruises to serious brain and spinal cord injuries, most fall somewhere between the two extremes. Here are some of the more common types of injuries.
Sprains and Strains
A sprain is an injury to a ligament, one of the bands of tough, fibrous tissue that connects two or more bones at a joint and prevents excessive movement of the joint. An ankle sprain is the most common athletic injury.
A strain is an injury to either a muscle or a tendon. A muscle is a tissue composed of bundles of specialized cells that, when stimulated by nerve messages, contract and produce movement. A tendon is a tough, fibrous cord of tissue that connects muscle to bone. Muscles in any part of the body can be injured.
Growth Plate Injuries
In some sports accidents and injuries, the growth plate may be injured. The growth plate is the area of developing tissues at the end of the long bones in growing children and adolescents. When growth is complete, sometime during adolescence, the growth plate is replaced by solid bone. The long bones in the body include:
- the long bones of the hand and fingers (metacarpals and phalanges)
- both bones of the forearm (radius and ulna)
- the bone of the upper leg (femur)
- the lower leg bones (tibia and fibula)
- the foot bones (metatarsals and phalanges).
If any of these areas become injured, it’s important to seek professional help from an orthopaedic surgeon, a doctor who specializes in bone injuries.
Repetitive Motion Injuries
Painful injuries such as stress fractures (a hairline fracture of the bone that has been subjected to repeated stress) and tendinitis (inflammation of a tendon) can occur from overuse of muscles and tendons. Some of these injuries don’t always show up on x rays, but they do cause pain and discomfort. The injured area usually responds to rest, ice, compression, and elevation (RICE). Other treatments can include crutches, cast immobilization, and physical therapy.
Heat-Related Illnesses
Heat-related illnesses include:
- dehydration (deficit in body fluids)
- heat exhaustion (nausea, dizziness, weakness, headache, pale and moist skin, heavy perspiration, normal or low body temperature, weak pulse, dilated pupils, disorientation, and fainting spells)
- heat stroke (headache, dizziness, confusion, and hot dry skin, possibly leading to vascular collapse, coma, and death).
Heat injuries are always dangerous and can be fatal. Heat-related injuries are a particular problem for children because children perspire less than adults and require a higher core body temperature to trigger sweating. Playing rigorous sports in the heat requires close monitoring of both body and weather conditions. Fortunately, heat-related illnesses can be prevented.
II. Preventing and Treating Injuries
Injuries can happen to any child who plays sports, but there are some things that can help prevent and treat injuries.
Prevention Basics
- Enroll your child in organized sports through schools, community clubs, and recreation areas that are properly maintained. Any organized team activity should demonstrate a commitment to injury prevention. Coaches should be trained in first aid and CPR, and should have a plan for responding to emergencies. Coaches should be well versed in the proper use of equipment, and should enforce rules on equipment use.
- Organized sports programs may have adults on staff who are Certified Athletic Trainers. These individuals are trained to prevent, recognize, and provide immediate care for athletic injuries.
- Make sure your child has—and consistently uses—proper gear for a particular sport. This may reduce the chances of being injured.
- Make warm-ups and cool downs part of your child’s routine before and after sports participation. Warm-up exercises, such as stretching and light jogging, can help minimize the chance of muscle strain or other soft tissue injury during sports. Warm-up exercises make the body’s tissues warmer and more flexible. Cool down exercises loosen muscles that have tightened during exercise.
- Make sure your child has access to water or a sports drink while playing. Encourage him or her to drink frequently and stay properly hydrated. Remember to include sunscreen and a hat (when possible) to reduce the chance of sunburn, which is a type of injury to the skin. Sun protection may also decrease the chances of malignant melanoma—a potentially deadly skin cancer—or other skin cancers that can occur later in life.
- Learn and follow safety rules and suggestions for your child’s particular sport. You’ll find some more sport-specific safety suggestions below.
Primary Treatment
Treatment for sports-related injuries will vary by injury. But if your child suffers a soft tissue injury (such as a sprain or strain) or a bone injury, the best immediate treatment is easy to remember: RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) the injury (see below). Get professional treatment if any injury is severe. A severe injury means having an obvious fracture or dislocation of a joint, prolonged swelling, or prolonged or severe pain.
Treat Injuries with “RICE”
- Rest: Reduce or stop using the injured area for at least 48 hours. If you have a leg injury, you may need to stay off of it completely.
- Ice: Put an ice pack on the injured area for 20 minutes at a time, four to eight times per day. Use a cold pack, ice bag, or a plastic bag filled with crushed ice that has been wrapped in a towel.
- Compression: Ask your child’s doctor about elastics wraps, air casts, special boots, or splints that can be used to compress an injured ankle, knee, or wrist to reduce swelling.
- Elevation: Keep the injured area elevated above the level of the heart to help decrease swelling. Use a pillow to help elevate an injured limb.
For Basketball…
- Common injuries and locations: sprains; strains; bruises; fractures; scrapes; dislocations; cuts; injuries to teeth, ankles and knees. (Injury rates are higher in girls, especially for the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the wide ligament that limits rotation and forward movement of the shin bone.)
- Safest playing with: eye protection, elbow and knee pads, mouth guard, athletic supporters for males, proper shoes, water. If playing outdoors, wear sunscreen and, when possible, a hat.
- Injury prevention: strength training (particularly knees and shoulders), aerobics (exercises that develop the strength and endurance of heart and lungs), warmup exercises, proper coaching, and use of safety equipment.
For Track and Field…
- Common injuries: strains, sprains, scrapes from falls.
- Safest playing with: proper shoes, athletic supporters for males, sunscreen, water.
- Injury prevention: proper conditioning and coaching.
For Football…
- Common injuries and locations: bruises; sprains; strains; pulled muscles; tears to soft tissues such as ligaments; broken bones; internal injures (bruised or damaged organs); concussions; back injuries; sunburn. Knees and ankles are the most common injury sites.
- Safest playing with: helmet; mouth guard; shoulder pads; athletic supporters for males; chest/rib pads; forearm, elbow, and thigh pads; shin guards; proper shoes; sunscreen; water.
- Injury prevention: proper use of safety equipment, warmup exercises, proper coaching techniques and conditioning.
For Baseball and Softball…
- Common injuries: soft tissue strains; impact injuries that include fractures caused by sliding and being hit by a ball; sunburn.
- Safest playing with: batting helmet; shin guards; elbow guards; athletic supporters for males; mouth guard; sunscreen; cleats; hat; detachable,“breakaway bases” rather than traditional, stationary ones.
- Injury prevention: proper conditioning and warmups.
For Soccer…
Common injuries: bruises, cuts and scrapes, headaches, sunburn.- Safest playing with: shin guards, athletic supporters for males, cleats, sunscreen, water.
- Injury prevention: aerobic conditioning and warmups, and proper training in “heading” (that is, using the head to strike or make a play with the ball).
For Gymnastics…
- Common injuries: sprains and strains of soft tissues.
- Safest playing with: athletic supporters for males, safety harness, joint supports (such as neoprene wraps), water.
- Injury prevention: proper conditioning and warmups.
III. Safety Tips for ALL Sports
- Be in proper physical condition to play the sport.
- Follow the rules of the sport.
- Wear appropriate protective gear (for example, shin guards for soccer, a hard-shell helmet when facing a baseball or softball pitcher, a helmet and body padding for ice hockey).
- Know how to use athletic equipment.
- Always warm up before playing.
- Avoid playing when very tired or in pain.
- Get a preseason physical examination.
- Make sure adequate water or other liquids are available to maintain proper hydration.
Adapted from Play It Safe, a Guide to Safety for Young Athletes, with permission of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
Play It Safe in the Heat
- Schedule regular fluid breaks during practice and games. Kids need to drink 8 ounces of fluid—preferably water—every 20 minutes, and more after playing.
- Have your child wear light-colored,“breathable” clothing.
- Make player substitutions more frequently in the heat.
- Use misting sprays on the body to keep cool.
- Know the signs of heat-related problems, including confusion; dilated pupils; dizziness; fainting; headache; heavy perspiration; nausea; pale and moist or hot, dry skin; weak pulse; and weakness. If your child experiences any combination of these symptoms or doesn’t seem quite right, seek medical attention immediately.
Adapted with permission from Patient Care magazine, copyrighted by Medical Economics.
Please keep your children active and safe and have a great school year.
Caution! Beware of Snowmobiles with Kids. As Risky as ATV’s
Last updated on December 2nd, 2017 at 01:15 pm
Having the opportunity to write for this amazing website has given me the opportunity to bring awareness to a wide range of topics which mostly come from experiences I have had responding to calls here in south Florida at my fire department. What I would like to speak out today is something I have NO experience with, Snowmobiles. I want to cover this because while planning a family ski trip I kept seeing snowmobiling as a thing to do and wanted to know more and how I can relate to them. What I found is that snow mobiles are ATV’s on snow. I wanted to compare the two. I looked at size, weight, speed, passenger room, and of course injuries, and here is what I found.
- Both are gas powered.
- Both have “dry weights” that can be 300lbs or higher!
- Both can reach speeds well over 50 mph with some snowmobiles going well beyond that.
- Both come in single or multi-passenger models.
- Both have varying laws about operating age depending on the state you are in.
- Both have caused fatal injuries to all age groups with snowmobiles having drowning added to its list.
- Both list striking stationary objects such as trees as a major factor in accidents.
- Both have leading causes of non-fatal injuries listed as head, neck, and face injuries.
- Both list leading causes of head trauma due to a lack of proper helmet protection.
- Both list excessive speed as a contributing factor in many accidents.
- Both are susceptible to hidden dangers in the mud or snow respectively.
Having looked at all these factors, I found that snow mobiles are no different SAFETY wise than ATV’s. Yes driving on snow offers some obvious differences but the safety aspects are the SAME.
SNOWMOBILE vs. ATV: SAFETY FEATURES
- Both are not recommended to be driven by anyone under 16 years of age.
- Both should always be ridden with a proper helmet and any extra safety restraints when available.
- Both should be ridden with reflective gear that can be seen at night.
- Both should be driven cautiously and preferably by experienced drivers.
- Both weigh a lot and require strength to drive properly.
- Both should be driven away from bystanders and other traffic as to avoid collisions.
- Both should be given the respect they deserve as powerful machines.
Having said all this and hopefully made you aware of how safety is similar in many recreational machines, I do not wish to discourage you from going out and riding these machines, I just want you to do it safely.
Good luck and stay warm.
Parents, Forget Cool! Get Your Kids the Boring Safety Pads
Last updated on March 9th, 2018 at 12:12 am
The holiday season is upon us and all the little boys and girls have made their lists and are hoping for that new toy they have been dying for. Some kids are hoping for video games, some kids are hoping for dolls, and some are hoping for bikes and skateboards. While the video games and dolls can be exciting, it is the bikes, skateboards, and other moving toys that need our attention. While there is nothing that equals the smile on a child’s face when they learn to ride alone and get the hang of their new toy, there is also nothing like seeing them in the E.R with a broken bone or worse a head injury.
Every year thousands of children are sent to the hospital with bumps, bruises, broken bones and head injuries from falls off of bikes, skateboards and even scooters. The old saying is true, helmets save lives. With the CDC findings that helmets can prevent 85% of head injuries, elbow pads 82% of elbow injuries and knee pads, 32% of knee injuries – and having been on more than one call where a helmet did its job and took the hit – there is no reason not to include this in your holiday shopping. I know it is not cool, and I know that there are very few children out there wishing that they will get that new set of safety pads this year, but it may be being uncool that saves our kids from serious injuries with their new toys.
As always, please make sure that your children know how to properly ride whatever toy they have and please make sure that all the safety equipment like safety pads and helmets are the proper size and allow your children to properly and safely enjoy their new toys.
I hope you all have a Happy Holidays with exciting toys and boring safety stuff.
Your Young Child and Sports Injuries: Should You Worry?
Last updated on March 9th, 2018 at 09:56 am
As school begins again, your child will be exposed to various sports- participation should be encouraged. The fall sports usually include soccer, football, and late baseball. You, as parents should do your homework also about safety and sports and always promote the acquisition and use of the best and latest equipment available to protect your children from injury. Once this is accomplished, you should also be on the lookout for injuries to your own child during sport play.
The younger your child is, the less likely there is to be a significant injury and the more likely the level of theatrics will be elevated. Many reasons for this are: lighter body weights, lack of high volume inertial injuries, slower running, and natural avoidance of collisions during sport play. You should not only rely on the opinion of coaches and ancillary personnel to decide if it is OK for your child to continue to participate in the sport. In point of fact they might very well be more conservative than you when determining if a child should return to play. Either go to him/her or call him/her over to you and do your own rapid exam and evaluation; after all, you are the one who knows your child better than anyone.
Limb injuries are very common among sports injuries and you should ask him/her where and how much this hurts. Feel the area for irregularities in shape and/ or movement. Ask him to use the extremity in the appropriate action and judge his/her level of discomfort; he/she would not like to be taken out of the game and “stigmatized” as a “baby”- but at this age will not have the same drive to participate that the older child will show. Because of the reasons mentioned above, an actual fracture would be unusual at lower ages- not impossible. If there is any doubt in your mind, take him to an urgent care or emergency room for evaluation.
Head injuries are less common than extremity injuries but are the most important and become more so as the child grows and exerts more and more inertial energy to collisions.
Any child who is unconscious for any length of time after the injury, is amnesic about the details of the incident, cannot answer simple questions as to where he/she is or, what he/she is doing here, etc., or is just “not acting right” to you as his/her parent should be removed immediately from the game and taken for evaluation.
While mild “concussions” are common these children must be observed as per his/her Doctor, and repeated such episodes can become dangerous.
In summary, know your child well, be proactive in helping to assure there is the proper protective equipment and evaluating your child’s injury yourself, and always be conservative with decision making after sports injuries.
Your Child and EKG’s
Last updated on August 30th, 2015 at 05:56 pm
As the new school year approaches and we all start to get back into our rituals of school and homework,there is one more part of the ritual that will return and that is sports. The sports season and the school year go hand in hand for many student athletes and if you have been keeping up with the national news lately, a growing number of children have had emergencies while participating in sports activities due to heart arrhythmias. While heart arrhythmias in children are more rare than adults, they still exist and the activity level and stress on the heart from sports can make an already known congenital condition worse or bring an unknown condition to light. Many sports teams or clubs require a routine physical before participating and that is great but not many require an Electrocardiogram or “ EKG “ to be apart of that physical. Reading stories from across the country and the world for that matter about children who have been injured or even died from causes related to arrhythmias has proven that the need for every child to have an EKG done annually is necessary and even more so in the case of children involved in sports.
Having an EKG done is quick and painless and can bring peace of mind to parents and children and may also give some answers as to why some children complain of or feel different things and could not explain why. I can personally tell you we run many EKG’s on people that call 911 for various reasons and they all feel a little better with a clean EKG.
The causes of these heart arrhythmias in children vary.. Some children have a congenital condition that they are born with and was detected early and is under control by a doctor. Some normally healthy children suddenly develop them for unknown reasons and find out during an EKG during a physical or during a trip to the emergency room from an unknown problem. There are reports linking the rising use of energy drinks by children and teens to the development of these arrhythmias and the sudden emergencies or even deaths that have occurred while using them. The American Hear Association has come out strongly against the use of energy drinks due to the caffeine involved and the changes to your body’s natural heart rhythm and blood pressure they cause. Mix that with the stress of sports and you have a potentially deadly combination. Look around a high school or any setting with sports and you will see no shortage of energy drinks.
The bottom line is that like most things, prevention is key. Having an EKG done by your child’s doctor is easy and should be done regardless of playing sports or not. You never know what you may find and you may save your child’s life in the process. And while you’re at it, get one done for you too.
Thank you and have a great and safe school year!
Photo credit: Kelly Sue DeConnick; CC license
