Scott Bonnette, Michael A Riley, Christopher Riehm, Christopher A DiCesare, Michele Christy, John Wilson, Andrew Schille, Jed A Diekfuss, Adam W Kiefer, Neeru Jayanthi, Gregory D Myer
The practice of early sport specialization, defined as intense year-round training in a single sport at the exclusion of others, is increasing in youth athletics. Despite potential benefits, sport specialization may be detrimental to the health of young athletes, as specialization may increase the risk of musculoskeletal injuries-particularly overuse injuries. However, there remains limited knowledge about how sports specialization uniquely alters underlying sports-related motor behavior. The purpose of this study was to compare the variability of movement patterns exhibited by highly sports specialized youth athletes to that of nonspecialized athletes during performance of a sport-specific, virtual reality based cutting task...
January 15, 2023: Journal of Motor Behavior