Avoid Soccer Injuries in Your Kids

The school team. The town team. The travel team. If your young soccer player is on the field for several games or practices a week, it may be too much.

"We're seeing a lot of stress fractures, heel bruises and Achilles tendonitis in younger players," says Eric Small, M.D., a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) sports medicine committee. "Younger players are more susceptible because they're still growing."

Soccer has grown faster in the last decade than any team sport, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association says. And whenever participation in a sport rises, there are bound to be more injuries. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), each year more than 477,500 soccer-related injuries are treated by health care professionals.

"There's an increase in injuries when fatigue sets in," says Dr. Small. "It's not a good idea for a child to be inactive all summer and then play in three soccer leagues in the fall. Increase playing time by no more than 10 to 20 percent each week."

Though most injuries were sprains, strains, bruises and fractures, there's a growing concern about head injuries.

The AAP recommends "heading" the ball be kept to a minimum among younger players. National head injury expert James Kelly, M.D., of the Brain Injury Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, goes even further. "Kids have no business heading the ball until they are in their mid-teens," he says.

The AAOS recommends the following to prevent soccer injuries:

• Wear shin guards to help protect your lower legs

• Wear shoes with molded cleats or ribbed soles, not cleats that are screwed into the soles

• Don’t allow players to crawl or sit on the goal, or hang from the net

• Pad a properly secure goal posts

• Keep playing fields in good repair