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Three Areas Of Focus To Stay Fueled Through Busy Sports Seasons

Three Areas Of Focus To Stay Fueled Through Busy Sports Seasons

by | Oct 17, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Parents of student-athletes are familiar with the long days of practices before school, hours of schoolwork and games in the evening. Our sports dietitian, Taylor Morrison, M.S., R.D.N., CSSD, L.D., shares everything parents of busy young athletes need to know about fueling well, eating enough and staying hydrated to support their stacked schedules.

When trying to ensure your athlete is getting enough fuel and enough nutrition for sports and school, start by focusing on three key things:

  1. Maintain energy levels with meals and snacks that provide both quick and sustained energy.
  2. Stay hydrated.
  3. Recover well.

Maintaining Energy Levels
It’s important that young athletes keep their brains and muscles well-fueled throughout the day, starting when they get up in the morning. This is crucial so they not only perform their best in school but also so that they show up for sport practices energized with plenty of fuel in the tank to use for their sport. When athletes show up to practices with depleted energy stores, they run the risk of dizziness and fatigue in the short-term and decreased strength and overall performance long-term.

To know what foods to choose in their fueling strategy, it’s important that they have a basic understanding of the macronutrients, including carbohydrates, protein and fat:

  • Carbohydrates are the best and quickest source of fuel for the brain and muscles. This macronutrient can be used for energy in a young athlete in anywhere between 15 and 60 minutes after consumption, depending on the specific food they choose. These should be included in all meals and snacks throughout the day and can be a great snack 15 to 60 minutes before a practice. Foods high in carbohydrates include grains, such as bread or granola, and starches, such as potatoes or rice.
  • Protein is important for building and maintaining muscle and for injury recovery. It takes a little longer for the body to use protein for energy, so it is best left out of the pre-practice snack unless the athlete has a good 90 minutes or more before start time. It is, however, an important part of meals and the athlete’s recovery snacks. Foods high in protein include meats, such as beef, chicken, turkey, fish and seafood and eggs, and dairy products, such as milk or yogurt.
  • Fat is another important energy source for young athletes. These foods can also help fight inflammation and are crucial for the body to absorb certain vitamins (specifically A, D, E and K). However, it takes the body the longest to digest fat, so it should be kept out of the pre-practice snack and saved for the post-event meal or for meals and snacks that are a few hours away. Foods high in fat include certain cuts of meat, cheese, avocados, nuts and eggs.

For more information on how to incorporate meals and snacks around a busy training session, refer to our Tournament Nutrition guide.

Staying Hydrated
Athletes should understand the importance of drinking water and fluids throughout the day, starting when they wake up in the morning. Drinking 24 ounces from a water bottle 10 minutes before warmup will not make up for the fact that the athlete forgot to drink any water earlier that day. It will likely just leave him or her uncomfortable during the event and needing to take a bathroom break.
When asked what is best to drink, water should be the go-to drink of choice. If an athlete has trouble drinking fluids during the day, remember that foods can help hydrate as well. Sports drinks are best for when an athlete has been practicing for an hour or more or it is a very hot and humid environment.  There are a few other instances where a sports drink is helpful, and these special situations include:

  • The athlete has trouble eating solids before or during an event due to nerves.
  • The athlete is a salty sweater.
  • The athlete struggles with muscle cramping during events.

A factor to consider when choosing drinks and electrolyte packets is the age and stage of development the athlete is in. Before puberty, an athlete regulates body temperature differently than an adult, relying less on sweat to cool the body and, therefore, losing less electrolytes. An 8-year-old basketball player will likely not need the electrolyte replacement that a 17-year-old basketball player will need.

For more support in helping your young athlete hydrate, check out our Hydration for Young Athletes handout.

Recovering Well
Just because the game or practice is over does not mean athletes should forget about nutrition. This is especially true when the athlete is in back-to-back events or has a quick turnaround time between games. This could mean multiple games in a day, or it could look like a game ending in the evening and the next game early in the morning. During these small windows, the recovery fuel counts.

The three key components of a great recovery snack are:

  1. Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates replenish depleted energy stores in the muscle, which then prevents the body from breaking down protein (muscle) for fuel moving forward.

  1. Protein

Protein that the athlete eats helps to rebuild and repair the muscle that is naturally broken down a little with exercise. It will also help maintain the athlete’s strength.

  1. Fluid

 
Fluid will rehydrate the body to keep energy levels up and prevent dehydration.
For more info on recovery snacks, check out our handout, blog post or the below video!

For more sports nutrition information, visit www.scottishriteforchildren.com/nutrition.

How to Spot Signs of a Concussion in Kids

How to Spot Signs of a Concussion in Kids

by | Oct 10, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Head injuries in children, especially children who play sports, can have long-lasting impacts. Knowing the signs of a concussion in kids will help you get the treatment your child needs to avoid serious complications.

Concussion Basics

A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury that can occur when a child experiences a sudden blow to the head. The impact causes the brain to jostle around the skull’s interior, damaging brain tissue and brain cells.
Although concussions during football get a lot of attention, these head injuries can also be caused by falls, collisions during other sports, bicycle accidents, and even minor car accidents. Particularly concerning is that having a concussion increases a child’s risk for having another one.

Immediate Warning Signs of Concussions in Kids

When your child hits his or her head, it’s natural to wonder if they’re okay. You may see your child jump up and keep playing, and you assume they aren’t injured. But you should monitor them closely for signs of a concussion because not all children will show immediate symptoms. In fact, according to the International Concussion Society, 90% of concussions that occur during sports don’t cause the person to black out or become unconscious.
“When in doubt, sit them out,” said Shane M. Miller, M.D., sports medicine physician and concussion expert. “If your child seems dazed, stunned, dizzy or is complaining of a headache, it’s safest for you or their coach to remove them from play immediately. The ‘tough it out’ mentality could prolong recovery and make them more susceptible to a more severe injury.”
Immediate symptoms of a concussion to look out for include:

  • Confusion
  • Dizziness
  • Memory loss
  • Nausea
  • Severe headache
  • Vomiting

If any of these symptoms are present, stop your child from playing or participating in an activity. More than 50% of child athletes continue playing a sport after experiencing a concussion, often because they don’t realize they’ve had a concussion or they don’t think their symptoms are that serious. However, continuing to play can slow recovery, increase the chances of having another concussion and lead to long-term symptoms, such as a headache that lasts for months.

Delayed Symptoms

Concussion symptoms can appear a few hours and even days after a concussion. Some symptoms may show up as much as a week after a concussion.

Even if your child seems fine after a short time, watch out for the following signs and symptoms:

  • Changes in alertness, such as difficulty staying awake, becoming unusually tired or having trouble paying attention
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Emotional and behavioral changes, such as mood swings, irritability, a sudden change in your child’s personality and unexplained emotional outbursts.
  • Headaches, especially persistent headaches, and those that worsen over time
  • Losing consciousness
  • Memory problems
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Sensitivity to light or noise
  • Trouble with balance and coordination, for example, unsteady movements, clumsiness and stumbling

When to Take Your Child to the ER for a Concussion

Concussions are always serious, but in some cases, the injury requires immediate medical attention from specialists at the closest emergency room (ER). Signs that a visit to the ER is necessary include:

  • Prolonged confusion
  • Seizures
  • Vomiting repeatedly
  • Worsening symptoms

At the ER, health care providers will perform a detailed physical exam, looking for visible injuries and symptoms, such as headaches and dizziness.

The ER team will also take your child’s medical history and ask about the incident and any previous concussions. The providers may order a comprehensive neurological assessment to test your child’s cognitive function, coordination, reflexes and responsiveness. They may also send your child for an imaging test, such as a CT or MRI scan.

Creating a Long-Term Plan for Concussion Recovery

In general, concussions heal in a few weeks. However, children require more recovery time from a concussion than adults, so help your child be patient during this process. Remind them that not taking enough time to heal could result in a more severe injury, including another concussion. The more concussions a child endures, the higher the likelihood of long-term damage to the brain.

Your child’s pediatrician can work with you to develop a plan to treat your child’s concussion. This plan will include plenty of time to rest and recover.

Gradually, your child will be able to return to normal daily activities, including sports, but only after you get the all-clear from their pediatrician or sports medicine specialist.

“Concussion management is a team approach, but the care is individualized to the needs of each athlete,” Miller said. “Unfortunately, injuries occur during sports, but how you respond is critical. Early recognition and treatment, with a supportive family and coaches leads to better outcomes and a quicker return to play.”

If your child took a baseline concussion test before the injury occurred, the goal is for their test results to be back to baseline levels.

Even after your child gets back on the court or field, you should monitor them for symptoms mentioned above. Symptoms that don’t go away or reappear after your child starts playing again could be signs of post-concussive syndrome, a rare condition that can develop in children who have had more than one concussion.

Trust your instincts when it comes to your child’s health. If you suspect a concussion, call our expert team now at 469-515-7100. We provide specialized care to ensure your child’s well-being and quick recovery.

Bryce’s Treatment is a Home Run

Bryce’s Treatment is a Home Run

by | Sep 30, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Header image courtesy of Eddie Kelly/ProLook.

When an injury threatened to keep Bryce off the baseball field for nine months, he and his family turned to Scottish Rite for Children to get him back in the game.

Bryce has always loved baseball. “I’ve been playing baseball pretty much ever since I could walk and get a ball in my hand,” he says. His mother, Johnette, first saw glimpses of Bryce’s outstanding athletic ability when he was 4. “When the other team was batting, it didn’t matter where Bryce was playing, he would go all over the field to get the ball,” she says. “He was kind of like a one-man-team.” Bryce started pitching when he was 8, and Johnette saw a drive and a passion that were unlike what she saw in other young athletes. When Bryce became a teenager, he played on select baseball teams, and he spent several summers traveling for games. Bryce’s drive and determination paid off his freshman year at McKinney High School when he made the varsity baseball team.

Like many star athletes, Bryce played several sports, and enjoyed football when he wasn’t playing baseball. Sport diversification can help prevent injuries caused by overuse, but unfortunately contact injuries are harder to prevent. In his junior year, he and his team had made it to the second round of the playoffs. During practice, to get ready for the big game, Bryce went for a block and, after contact, felt his arm go completely numb. “I thought it was just some bumps and a bruise because it’s football,” says Bryce. “So, I played that second round, and played every snap on offense and felt fine, but it turns out, it wasn’t too great.” The day after the game, he and a friend went to the baseball field to throw the ball around, but Bryce quickly realized that there was a problem. “I couldn’t even throw the ball five feet, because it was hurting so bad,” he says. 

Bryce had sustained a labral injury to his shoulder, which likely occurred when he subluxated (shoulder almost dislocated) or possibly dislocated (shoulder completely out of the socket) his shoulder. When the shoulder joint is injured this way, it can cause damage to the structures around the joint, including the labrum. The labrum is a ring of cartilage around the socket part of the ball and socket joint of the shoulder. When torn, the labrum is commonly thought to need surgery, but not always. 

Bryce,-MVP-(1).jpg

Initially, Bryce was told that surgery was necessary in order to return to sports and may take as long as nine months. This news devastated Bryce, so when his parents returned, they turned to the Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center for another opinion. Pediatric orthopedic surgeon Henry B. Ellis, M.D., reviewed Bryce’s files and MRI, and felt that they could get him back to baseball with physical therapy instead of surgery. He felt with proper rehabilitation (physical therapy) and allowing enough time to allow the labrum to heal, Bryce could avoid a surgery and possibly be back to baseball sooner. However, this did mean that Bryce would have to give his shoulder enough time to heal before throwing a ball again.

Though encouraged by the option to avoid surgery, Bryce remembers being a little shocked at how difficult physical therapy was from the start. “It kind of killed my confidence a little bit and frustrated me, because I’ve always played a lot of sports and I always want to be the best that I can be. But once I saw improvement in how my body and my shoulder felt, I finally started getting back my confidence, so it was good.” Scottish Rite coordinated with the McKinney High School athletic trainers on a program to get Bryce back on the field as soon as possible.

Bryce was cleared to play in February, right before the team began preparing for the upcoming season. After all the hard work he had put into building back his shoulder, he was very excited to be with his team again. They were glad to have him back too – in Bryce’s first week back, he hit three home runs. Things were going great until COVID-19 forced an early end to the season. “All this is a little different,” says Bryce. “It’s like a curveball being thrown at us. But you just have to adapt and be able to adjust and focus on what you are there for.”

Bryce has complete confidence in his shoulder now. “I feel like I can do anything and everything that I’ve always been capable of doing,” he says. “If it wasn’t for Scottish Rite, I wouldn’t be where I am now.” Bryce recently verbally committed to play baseball at Northeast Community College in Mount Pleasant, Texas, and plans to continue his journey to Major League of Baseball.

Bryce is very grateful to Dr. Ellis. When others were recommending surgery, Ellis presented the pros and cons of a nonoperative plan. Bryce says he learned a lot from his experience. “When you go through hard times, you always have to keep your head straight and focus on the main goal, because you are going to go through ups and downs, but you just have to focus on the end result, and that was big for me. Not focusing on the negatives, but on getting back to where I needed to be.”

 

Has your child been seen in the Sports Medicine clinic here? Fill out this form to tell us about your MVP. 

Individualized Care for ACL injuries

Individualized Care for ACL injuries

by | Sep 27, 2023 | Sports Medicine

The experts at our Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine see hundreds of young athletes for the treatment of knee and anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, injuries every year. Our multidisciplinary team knows working together to tackle every angle of an ACL injury – from diagnosis using imaging techniques, surgical reconstruction with a pediatric orthopedic surgeon to rehabilitation in physical therapy and even checking in with a pediatric psychologist – will give our active and growing patients the best outcomes.

ACL injuries are on the rise. According to the National Institutes of Health, in the United States alone, approximately 100,000 to 200,000 experience an ACL tear or sprain every year. While ACL injuries may be treated nonoperatively in some cases, reconstruction is typically the treatment method for those with higher levels of activity such as young athletes. After surgical reconstruction, a careful plan for recovery and return-to-play is followed, involving the patient, surgeon and physical therapist. Since secondary ACL tears are a big concern, the recovery process takes nine to 12 months or more before an athlete can get back to their sport at their previous level.

Recently, our sports medicine experts and pediatric orthopedic surgeons Henry B. Ellis, M.D., and Philip L. Wilson, M.D., helped author a study looking at how young athletes in different sports recovered from their ACL injury and reconstruction. In the study, findings showed that young athletes, especially females, demonstrated sport-specific differences in functional testing scores. They also found that soccer players were cleared to return to play sooner than football players and that the level of competition influenced functional testing scores in all athletes. These results point to a clear need for individualized treatment and recovery for ACL injuries.

For our sports medicine experts, this study validates efforts that customize ACL treatment and recovery for each athlete. Our sports medicine team continues to conduct research to improve the treatment strategies, recovery timelines and patient outcomes. Additionally, our experts actively share what they learn about ACL treatment and recovery with others in the medical and sports fields to help update the standards of care for young athletes everywhere.

Learn more about our Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine.

Coaching Kids: Top Tips for Coaches

Coaching Kids: Top Tips for Coaches

by | Sep 5, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Here are simple tips to integrate into coaching messages for kids. Building a solid foundation of good habits will help them well-beyond this youth sports season.

  • Teach athletes to eat a healthy snack with carbs before games and practices.
  • Encourage athletes to drink water before, during and after practice and games.
  • Respond quickly to complaints of pain and encourage an evaluation by a pediatric sports medicine specialist.
  • Learn how to lead your team through a dynamic warm-up and save stretching for after games and practices.
  • Most of all, keep it fun!

As a participant in the University of North Texas Athlete Transition Program, Tyree Eady, B.S., M.S., volunteered at Scottish Rite for Children in the Movement Science Lab on the Frisco campus. He is passionate about changing the future for young athletes through research and using his platform as a professional athlete

Learn more about sport-related injury prevention.

Share Your Story: Bria’s Big Break

Share Your Story: Bria’s Big Break

by | Aug 25, 2023 | Sports Medicine

Bria is a 12-year-old girl who stays busy with a variety of activities. From cheerleading, playing on her trampoline, hanging out with her friends and swimming, she is always on the move. After being diagnosed with Osgood-Schlatter disease, a condition that causes inflammation of the patellar ligament and creates a painful bump just below the knee, Bria and her family came to the Scottish Rite for Children Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center for treatment. Bria’s mom, Krista, shares their experience in this Share Your Story:

Written by mom – Krista Cardenas

We came to Scottish Rite for Children’s Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine a few years ago for treatment of Osgood-Schlatter disease in Bria’s knee and various cheer-related aches and pains. We really loved Stephanie De Jager, M.S.N., CPNP, and she became our go-to “person” when Bria had injuries.

Last year at an open gym one evening, Bria was tumbling and broke her tibia and had emergency surgery at another Dallas hospital. She fractured it through the growth plate and had compartment syndrome to make things worse. Once she was finally discharged, as the mom, I fell apart when we got home. I didn’t have our “people” to tell me everything was going to be ok, so I called Stephanie. She called me and talked to me at length, reassuring me that we could always switch and follow up later at Scottish Rite. We tried to give the other hospital a chance, but our heart was at Scottish Rite.

At our follow up, their plan of care was hasty, and they didn’t listen to me in discussing her projected growth before scheduling surgery, so we transferred Bria to Scottish Rite for further care. Thank goodness we did, because we got to meet Dr. Ellis, and we absolutely adored him. He really listened and took the time to look at Bria’s realistic growth based on our family heights and her puberty. We watched and waited for almost a year, and each appointment he was conservative and not quick to operate.

Finally, almost a year later, we pulled the trigger and had to do some growth plate modification for limb inequality and to correct a valgus. Our experience was completely different from the first surgery at the other facility. They took the time to explain at length every detail and answer all my million questions, never judging me for my hesitation. Child life specialist Marissa Willis sat with Bria and acknowledged the trauma of her first experience last year. She reassured her that this would be so much different, explaining every step she would experience on surgery day.

Finally on surgery day, we were impressed by every single person we encountered. From Nancy at the desk with her calming and friendly personality, to the volunteer cooking up fresh cookies and tending to my son and Bria’s grandfather, to each nurse we encountered having a kind and reassuring demeanor. Everyone put us so much at ease that we as a family were completely confident in sending her off. We really appreciated Falco’s visit, and he went straight to Bria’s dad to put his head in his lap because Dad was the most anxious. Wow! What an amazing dog! The facility was impeccably clean, updated and everything was so organized.

I can’t say enough about how amazing Scottish Rite is, and we will forever sing your praises. My husband and I both said we want to work at Scottish Rite! Bria’s grandfather couldn’t stop talking about how impressed he was with the facility. He kept saying, “This place is FIRST CLASS!” From the smell of popcorn the moment we walked in, to the kind nurses helping her into the car, this day could not have been any more perfect (for a surgery day that is!).

Learn more about our Center for Excellence in Sports Medicine.DO YOU HAVE A STORY? WE WANT TO HEAR IT! SHARE YOUR STORY WITH US.