The American Academy of Pediatrics issues a study that says children are getting injured every bit well as burned out from specializing in a single sport.

If you lot desire show that child athletes in the United States are suffering more injuries, you don't have to expect any further than the Sports Medicine Dispensary in Walnut Creek, California.

The facility, overseen past the University of California, San Francisco, Benioff Children'due south Hospital, has been open in a suburb east of San Francisco for almost iii years.

Its primary purpose is to care for children, teenagers, and immature adults who have been injured while playing sports.

The center sees about one,500 immature patients a month for physical therapy, surgery, and other treatments.

Dr. Nirav Pandya, director of sports medicine for the hospital and the clinic, estimates 60 percent of those patients come up in because of injuries they've suffered from focusing on a single sport year-round.

"Using those same muscles and joints at a young age tin pb to breakdowns," Pandya explained to Healthline.

Read more: Youth football game tin be safe, pediatricians say »

The Walnut Creek clinic is not an isolated example. It'south part of a trend.

The American University of Pediatrics (AAP) released a report today that states children in the United states are facing a higher run a risk of "overuse injuries" from specializing in a single sport.

The report noted that nearly lx million children ages 6 to 18 play in organized sports every twelvemonth in the Us.

Of those young athletes, 27 percent participate in merely one sport.

AAP officials said some children begin their focus on one sport every bit early as 7 years of age, playing year-circular on multiple teams likewise as traveling squads.

AAP officials estimate about seventy percent of children drib out of organized sports by age 13.

Pandya said the most mutual injuries his clinic sees involve knees, elbows, and shoulders.

He said soccer players, in particular girls, are decumbent to inflammation and even tears in the all-important anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Baseball players, in detail boys, tend to have elbow problems, while swimmers often incur shoulder injuries.

Read more: Lawmakers make pitch for youth sports safe »

The grind of playing only one sport all year can also produce mental issues for young athletes.

In its report, the AAP said stress and burnout are potential problems for unmarried-sport athletes.

Pandya said medical professionals at his clinic notice young athletes not merely having problems in their sports but also with their homework and social life.

"The sport nigh feels like a job to them," he said. "There can be high levels of low and the inability to complete tasks."

Dr. Joel Southward. Brenner, F.A.A.P., a study co-author and past president of the AAP Quango on Sports Medicine and Fettle, agreed.

He added that the cycle usually begins with the child wanting to play a sport. One time they kickoff, it and so becomes crucial for parents to take intendance of the immature athlete, as well every bit for the coaches to train and guide them properly.

The children, he said, don't want to disappoint their parents, coaches, and fellow players, and then information technology'southward the adults that need to sentry over them.

"It'southward the whole family. The parents, the kids, and the coaches," Brenner told Healthline. "Parents need to be the abet for their child."

Read more: Performance drug utilise in high school athletes »

Both Pandya and Brenner said the trend toward single sports for children started about xv years agone with the advent of traveling and club teams.

The squads emerged because of the force per unit area for young children to become highly skilled at a sport so they would practice well in loftier school and then obtain a college scholarship.

With this in mind, AAP officials fabricated a number of recommendations for parents in their report.

They advised that sports specialization exist delayed until a child is at least 15 years erstwhile. Younger children should be encouraged to participate in multiple sports.

Parents are as well encouraged to evaluate the preparation and coaching environments of "aristocracy" youth sports programs.

Immature athletes should take 3 months off a twelvemonth (in one-month increments) from their main sports. They should besides take ane to two days off a week from sports activity to decrease the chances of repetitive injuries.

Brenner and Pandya said information technology'due south beneficial for children to compete in more one sport. It helps them mentally, and also exercises different groups of muscles and introduces skills that can be used in whatsoever athletic effort.

"Yous don't have to specialize to excel," said Brenner.

Officials at the National Quango of Youth Sports (NCYS) are in agreement with the AAP recommendations.

"It is important to betrayal a child to unlike sports so they learn a variety of skills, see a diverseness of other kids for socialization with kids having other interests, piece of work various musculus groups for of import concrete and medical purposes," Sally Johnson, executive managing director of the National Council of Sports, told Healthline.

She added that children who accept a positive experience playing sports reap many rewards.

"Youth sports is the conduit through which children learn important life lessons, values, pity, and adept ethics," said Johnson. "It is that human relationship between sports skills and life skills that provides our immature athletes with the fundamentals they demand to succeed both on and off the playing field."