In a story reported by the Associated Press yesterday and again today, an alarming new trend is being seen by doctors around the country: Injuries once seen mostly in adult athletes are becoming distressingly common in youth athletes – not just in high school, but in Little League and Pee Wee Football.

These aren’t simple injuries. In the past decade, “Tommy John” surgeries to repair elbows blown out playing baseball – an operation named for a Hall of Famer – have almost tripled among adolescents.

Worse, some injuries don’t have good treatments for young patients. The surgery that fixed the torn ACL in Tiger Woods’ knee, for instance, can thwart the growth of a young child’s leg.

An orthopedic surgeon at Children’s Hospital Boston is about to begin a government-funded study to figure out the best treatment for children who tear their anterior cruciate ligament while growth plates around the knee are still active. However, long-term consequences for little joints is unknown.

Why the sudden influx? Orthopedic surgeons say that today’s youth sports are more intense, with players often picking just one sport to specialize as young as 8.

I have a different theory. I believe it’s due to a lack of physical education classes in public schools and proper physical conditioning. In the past 10-15 years, many schools have cut physical education classes from the curriculum. Children no longer play (run, jump, climb, skip, wrestle or participate in playground games and sports) on a daily basis. Not just at school, but also after school.

This also includes physical labor. How many children perform physical chores like they used to 50 or more years ago? These days, it’s very rare to see a child have to do anything more physical than setting the dinner table or picking up their clothes off their bedroom floor. In the past, many children were expected to help out on the farm by feeding the animals, carrying buckets of water, bailing hay or even raking the yard, mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, chopping wood, etc.

Another reason is due to the advancement of computer and video games like Nintendo, PlayStation, etc. More children are playing video games on the computer or TV rather than going outside and playing.

Without proper physical activities at a young age, children will not develop the necessary skills and abilities to play organized sports. Muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones need to be used on a daily basis and stressed with a variety of resistance in order to build strength, muscle, flexibility, speed, power, balance and coordination.

Simple things like jumping, climbing, playing hopscotch, running and other similar movements all help children strengthen their bodies and avoid injury.

Our society needs to place more emphasis on physical activity with our children. If school budgets won’t allow physical education classes, then the parents should be encouraging their children to get out and play rather than watching TV or playing video games. In fact, more parents should be outside with their children playing games and encouraging physical activity.

More physical activity will help lower the incidence of adult injuries in children that have been taking place more and more. Also, adolescents shouldn’t specialize or focus on one sport until much later (junior or senior year of high school).

Parents, encourage your children to participate in a variety of sports throughout the year. It will help lower the chance of injury and burnout.

For more information about youth training, be sure to visit the International Youth Conditioning Association (IYCA).

When Stacey returned from her one-week mission trip from Nicaragua through our church on June 29, she was dealing with tremendous leg and back pain that kept her tossing and turning most of the night (keeping me up as well!).

This was most likely a result of sleeping on a very hard and uncomfortable bed for a week (at least she had air conditioning and in-door plumbing while she was there!).

We decided to go to the chiropractor because the pain hadn’t decreased and because Stacey doesn’t have medical insurance (they have an affordable cash plan for those without insurance).

The chiropractor we chose was affordable and happened to be a friend of mine from high school. During Stacey’s initial exam, Dr. Powell talked with her about the pain, took x-rays and examined her neck, back and feet. She began treatment the following day after seeing that she had some neck and back issues that needed adjusting in order to help relieve the pain.

I also decided to get examined since I hadn’t been to a chiropractor in more than two years. I’ve been to another chiropractor for neck and back pain from a car accident in 1995 (I was rear-ended) and then again in 2005-2006 for shoulder and knee pain.

However, I felt it would be a good idea to keep myself healthy and avoid future shoulder and knee pain. After the initial exam and x-rays, I came back the following day for the results and first treatment.

We looked at my x-rays and my neck looked pretty good. It had a nice curve with only a small area near the base of my skull that needed some adjusting. I was joking with Stacey that my neck looked better than hers (as her neck has no curve, it’s completely straight – not a good thing!).

Then, we looked at my spine. To say that I was surprised is an understatement. I couldn’t believe the x-ray that showed what looked like a snake in my back. Dr. Powell immediately told me that I have scoliosis.

What I couldn’t believe is that I’ve never known this. No one ever told me or diagnosed me with it. I don’t recall my previous chiropractor ever mentioning it. And it wasn’t like it was a minor case of scoliosis. I have an 18-degree curve, which is considered fairly severe.

Dr. Powell said that if he can reduce it to 12 degrees (a 5-degree difference), that would be a huge improvement and most likely the best that could be done without surgery.

If I don’t address it, it could cause a lot of pain and problems in the future. I believe that the only reason I haven’t had as much pain as others with scoliosis is the fact that I have been weight training for more than 15 years. Dr. Powell agreed that my physical activity has definitely helped me.

Knowing that I have scoliosis also helps clear up a few things. I have always had uneven shoulders, a common symptom (I thought it was a muscle imbalance between my traps) and slight rounding of my mid back. From the exam, I also found out that there is a 4-degree difference between my right and left hips (they should both be 0 degrees).

In the past, I have had mid- and lower back pain that would come and go. I always attributed it to working out too hard or just straining myself from heavy squats and deadlifts. Although my weight training workouts have helped me gain strength and muscle, they have not completely offset the fact that the scoliosis can cause back pain and problems.

This also explains why I can’t seem to hold the bar straight when I perform back squats. For as long as I can remember, the bar is always slightly over to one side. I have tried to fix it, but it doesn’t feel right and I end up going right back to my “normal” position. I believe the scoliosis is also the reason why I’ve had problems with heavy back squats throughout the last several years. It’s one reason why I’ve switched to front squats for the past year.

I’ve also had knee issues that could be a result of the scoliosis and the fact that my hips are off balance. All of these things play a role in how everything functions in the body. Something as simple as a curve in the neck or spine can carry down through the legs, knee and feet.

I’m not going to use scoliosis as an excuse, but it does shed some light on some of the above issues I’ve had (and a few others I’ve noticed in recent years). I plan on continuing to train as hard as usual while receiving chiropractor care from Dr. Powell to hopefully help reduce the curve and keep me pain free and healthy.

I’ll post more about this as things improve with treatment and see how it affects my training.

As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted a blog since last Saturday. I was on vacation this past week, and I also didn’t get online very much (which was actually a nice break since I’m always online!).

Although I didn’t go anywhere, I did enjoy the rest at home. It gave me a chance to work on a few projects around the house and yard, read some books, watch some DVD’s and movies, take care of some doctor appointments, visit family during the Fourth of July weekend and also sleep in each day.

Stacey and I spent time together and continued to strengthen our relationship during the week away from work and the computer.

It was nice to not have any pressure or stress of places to go or things to do. We took one day at a time and did what we wanted.

I managed to fit in all my workouts during the week even though I didn’t do them on my normal training days and times. My diet wasn’t as good as usual because I wasn’t following a daily routine. Instead of 5-6 meals each day, I ate 3-4 meals most days. I made healthy choices, but we did go out to eat several times (M’mmm sushi!!!!).

Even though I enjoyed dessert a couple times during the week, it reinforced that I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and don’t enjoy the way I feel after eating something sweet. My body craves good, whole, fresh foods. My cravings for sweet foods is usually only a result of me not eating properly (not eating enough protein and healthy fats – I’ll talk about this in a future blog as well).

I also believe that you should treat yourself (in moderation) if you really want something (ice cream, cake, pie, pizza, etc.). But you have to be willing to deal with the consequences (sugar crash, irritability, low energy levels, digestion problems, etc.). If you eat healthy 80-90% of the time, the consequences are much more noticeable. It serves as a deterrant to eating unhealthy foods because the body reacts negatively when you consume something sugary, fried or processed. This is a good thing!

Despite a few meals eaten away from home and a couple desserts, the week went well, and I felt good coming back to work today. I have plenty of energy, I feel rested, I’m catching up on a few small projects while also getting back to my daily routine of healthy eating.

In tomorrow’s blog, I’ll post about my visit to the chiropractor last week where I found out something I had not known and how it explains a few issues I’ve had!