It has been
established that one of the reasons why children suffer from bone loss is lack
of activity. One way this has been proven is through the fact that the arms of
a tennis player have a firm bone mass as opposed to that of a non-tennis
player. Assessment of this phenomenon among the minors has not been easy since
children have unreasonable time estimates spent in a variety of activities.
This did not however affect the consistency of inferences made from a variety
of experiments. It was noted that an increase in the activity of a child
translated into an increase in his bone mass which is desirable since it
reduces probabilities of fractures (Slemenda et al 1228).
While activity like sport is
encouraged to help in the skeletal mass formation, sporting activities have be
know to be sources of injury and discretion should be observed. As Caine etal
(749) observe, physical injury could culminate in an irreparable damage to the
young cells of the child. This will in turns affect the overall growth of the
child. The growth cartilage in the young ones is not as resistant to stress as
is the case for adults. When sporting,
the coach of the team and the team doctor need to pay particular attention to
any injury and attend to it in its initial stages.
Parents have not been very sure who
to believe as they hear conflicting information about activity and their
children. On one hand, they hear it is good for them while on the other they
fear that injury will hinder proper growth of their kids. Even more important
is the making out a distinction between competitive sporting activities and
strength training (Holly and Kimberly).
Faigenbaum et al (109) describe the
research that was done to determine how strength training impacted on children.
The experiment involved strength training for 8 weeks followed by a de-training
for 8 weeks. The findings of the experiment revealed that strength training
crash programs helped children grow stronger although this was realized to be
temporary as their bodies retuned to their original form after they were
relieved of the training program.
Works
Cited
Slemenda ,Charles. Role of Physical
Activity in the Development of Skeletal Mass in Children. Journal of Bone and Mineral Research. 6.11(1991): 1227-1223.
Caine, D. et al. Physeal injuries
in children's and youth sports: reasons for concern? British Journal of Sports Medicine. 40.9 (2006): 749–760.
Holly, Benjamin and Kimbeley Glow.
Strength Training for Children and Adolescents.
The
Physician And Sportsmedicine.
31. 9 (2003)
Faigenbaum et al. The
Effects of Strength Training and Detraining on
Children. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research. 10.2 (1996):109-114
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