1 Common Injuries in Youth Basketball-hoopskills.com

Common Injuries in Youth Basketball

-by Coach Brian Schofield http://www.hoopskills.com

When I was a younger player I was constantly in

knee pain. My father had terrible knees but was

overweight so I attributed his knee issues to that

but I also knew that part of it was genetics and

that I was going to have to deal with it as well.

When I was 13 years old it got so bad that I

couldn't play more than a couple hours a day

because of how bad my knees would hurt when I

would go up or down stairs. The pain was even

worse when someone hit my knee straight on or

when I fell to the court on it.

After a year of knee pain I told my dad I needed

to go to the doctor to get it checked out. What

we found out was that I had a disease or syndrome called Osgood Schlatters.

These were bumps that formed at the top of my tibia right below my kneecap.

They are ruptures of a growth plate in that area and they affect a ton of kids

around the ages of 10-16 who are engaged in sports.

You may be reading this now wondering if you have them and if you do you would

know it. You'll have extremely painful hard lumps that look like they are all bone

and when you hit them you are in great pain. They are very common and have no

cure except to stop growing or to stop playing sports altogether. In fact, I had

several friends who didn't play basketball for a summer because they hurt too

badly.

To treat them during games I made sure that when I came out of the game I

couldn't sit down. I would stand up or if I sat I would make sure that I kept

2 Common Injuries in Youth Basketball-hoopskills.com

bending my knees. By sitting they would simply freeze up and be nearly

impossible to get warmed up again.

Another common injury among young players is the dreaded high ankle sprain.

The first sprained ankle is always the worst one. It's the ligaments really being

stretched like they never have before and is usually the toughest one to recover

from.

High ankle sprains will create swelling all over the outside of the ankle and you'll

notice color around the outside bone but mainly down by the heal. Ice this injury

and don't push it. These injuries can be tough to recover from.

You will see pro players miss a month with a serious ankle sprain so it isn't

uncommon for it to be the same timeframe with youth. However younger players

have been known to heal quicker due to the fact that they are still growing and

have more stretch in their ligaments but I don't think that has ever been proven.

The other most common injury is simple tendinitis. Tendinitis is irritation of the

tendon but players can get tendinitis in their elbows, wrists, knees or ankles really

and it is common in young basketball players who play a lot. You'll feel very sore

when not playing and even while playing you'll notice some soreness of the

affected area.

Tendinitis is treated with ice and rest. It's an irritated and overworked tendon so it

is critical to get proper rest and to treat your body the right way. Players usually

try to play through tendinitis though and it can be quite painful. Most of the time

players will get warmed up and be able to go just fine but afterwards will feel very

sore. It only makes the postgame or post practice rituals more important.