Protecting Young Athletes: How Warming Up Can Prevent Injury When it comes to your child playing sports, you likely already know the importance of hydration, sleep, and proper equipment. But one thing that might not be on your radar—warming up! It’s a small step that could make a big difference in preventing injuries, especially in sports like soccer, basketball, and volleyball where knee and ankle injuries are the most common.1 If you’ve ever seen your child dive for a voll

I am currently an MPH student at Northwestern University studying Community Health Research, and I hope to become a physician who works with young athletes in the future. At 14 years old, I was a level nine gymnast with a broken back. Well, I had stress fractures on the lumbar vertebrae of my low back. Like many other young athletes, I was later diagnosed with "repetitive trauma.” In fact, amongst the many athletes I met during my time as a Big Ten student-athlete, almost all

Lilian Bui is an MD/MPH candidate at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine “Do you wear your helmet when you bike?” I was asked this question during medical school interviews by several pediatricians. As a novice bike rider of only two years, I cannot imagine biking without my helmet, but it was certainly a fair question to ask. According to one study, less than half of adults and children who ride bikes reported always wearing a helmet1. Bicycle-associated in