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" Millions of young athletes get broken bones, sprains and other injuries each year. Here&amp;#039;s what you need to know to keep them safe.   1. Get a pre-participation physical exam. Taking your child for a checkup before the sports season is essential. &amp;quot;Basically a &amp;#039;well-child&amp;#039; checkup, this is especially important for kids who play sports, because exerting the body during a game or practice may cause a previously undetected problem\u2014like a heart condition\u2014to crop up,&amp;quot; explains Stephen Daniels, MD, PhD, chairman of pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Make sure the doctor reviews your child&amp;#039;s medical history and thoroughly examines him, including measuring his blood pressure and listening to his heart. The doctor should also make sure that your child&amp;#039;s muscles and joints are in good shape.   2. Encourage kids to cross-train. &amp;quot;Overuse injuries, such as stress fractures, occur because you&amp;#039;re repetitively using one body part, which doesn&amp;#039;t give it the downtime to repair itself,&amp;quot; says Margot Putukian, MD, a team physician at Princeton University and a spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine. If your child is very focused on one sport, make sure that her training also incorporates activities that work different muscles. For example, if your daughter runs track, urge her to add swimming to her regimen.   3. Confirm that AEDs (automated external defibrillators) are available at practices and all games, says Brian Robinson, ATC, chairman of the National Athletic Trainers&amp;#039; Association Secondary School Committee. These devices can be lifesaving if a student goes into cardiac arrest (the heart stops beating due to an electrical problem), because they deliver a shock that restarts the heart&amp;#039;s normal rhythm.   4. Drink up! Players can avoid heat exhaustion (and the more rare but extremely serious heatstroke) by drinking water or sports drinks often. Have them drink 7 to 10 ounces before exercising, then continue sipping throughout the game or practice, says Robinson.   5. Ask the little league coach to use safety baseballs, which are softer than typical ones; they can help reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death. About 20 percent of sudden cardiac deaths in youth athletes happen when someone is struck in the chest (such as with a baseball) and the impact disrupts the heart&amp;#039;s rhythm. Younger kids are more susceptible, since the chest gets less pliable with age, says Dr. Putukian. Look for RIF (Reduced Injury Factor) baseballs at sporting goods stores.   6. Consider getting your child&amp;#039;s heart screened. Publicized instances of teen athletes dying from sudden cardiac arrest have some people thinking that everyone should get an EKG (electrocardiogram, which tests the heart&amp;#039;s electrical activity). The American Heart Association disagrees because there&amp;#039;s no proof that screening everyone with it will hep. EKGs produce many false negatives\u2014meaning the results are normal but cardiac arrest happens anyway\u2014as well as false positives. And while any case is tragic, it&amp;#039;s still relatively rare (there were 486 cases of sudden cardiac death in six years in U.S. elementary schools, middle schools, high schools and colleges combined).   That said, some kids would benefit from having an EKG. How to know if yours is one of them? Take him for a checkup before sports season starts and the doctor will decide based on that exam. Some signs that may prompt the screening:   a. The doctor hears a suspicious heart murmur.   b. He has fainted int he past of has a family history of fainitng.   c. There&amp;#039;s a family history of sudden cardiac arrest or a heart rhythm disorder (arrhythmia).   (Source: Pediatric cardiologist Stephen Daniels, MD, PhD, American Heart Association spokesman.)   To learn best practices for preventing knee injuries in girls, click here. To learn how to recognize and treat a sports-related concussion, click here. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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