Healthy Living: Avoiding overuse injuries when returning to sports

It's been a strange year for high school athletics, but now that fall sports are wrapping up and the spring season has young athletes returning to the tracks, fields and courts physical therapists are reminding them to be wary of overuse injuries.

Break the return of high school sports this spring has brought joy to so many people who missed spending time on the tracks, fields and courts.

But as kezi 9 news anchor chris lueneburg shows us in today's healthy living sponsored by oregon medical group, getting back into sports so quickly also comes with some dangers.

"this school year's delayed football season has come to a close-- and now for many schools, spring sports like tennis, track and field, baseball and softball have begun!

But physical therapists say before it's gametime, proper conditioning is a must after a full year off from sports."

Oregon medical group physical therapist rachel burch says that throughout the dealyed fall sports season, overuse injuries were on the rise.

"a lot of these kids have been sitting on the sofa and sitting in zoom classes for over a year now.

And then all of the sudden they are going back to school and starting sports."

Injuries like tendonitis are common in young athletes who go from zero to 100 to quickly.

"the muscle that is being used that connects the tendon to the bone becomes kind of tense and tight because it's been used constantly and at a greater intensity than it was prior."

Burch says students should know that they can't expect to reach the same hights they did back in 2019 right off the bat.

Getting there means a well thought out training plan from coaches and trainers.

"help with building a strong conditioning plan where we are slowly ramping these kids up to this level of activity."

But it's easy to overdo it when a game is on the line-- so if you do wind up with an overuse injury, burch says p- t can help with the pain.

"if they're starting to notice pain and injury, that's where pt really comes in strong to figure out why we are having this injury and what's causing these tissues to become irritated."

"burch also says it's important to warmup before getting into intense activity!

That's always been true, but this year especially, it could make a serious difference.

In the studio, chris lueneburg kezi 9