U.S. News & World Report: From Injury to Opioid: the Unintended Side Effect of Youth Sports Participation
Posted on Oct 18, 2018 8:51am PDT
JUST A DECADE AGO, IT seemed that the "biggest deal" in youth
sports drug-abuse news was high school athletes' use of performance-enhancing
drugs, or PEDs for short. Article after article described the win-at-all-costs
pressure experienced by young athletes who took PEDs because they thought
they needed a leg-up on their competition. While that particular pressure
hasn't dissipated and has arguably ramped up in recent years, the
level at which young athletes compete today and the amount of time they
spend practicing and playing any given sport has sky-rocketed. Between
too-early specialization in youth sports and playing a singular sport
year-round, the
injury rate among young athletes has significantly increased in step with the participation rate. The injuries
sustained cause pain, and some require surgical repair.