Professional athletes are more likely to become injured if they specialized in sports early in their career.
In a new study in the “Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine”, researchers examined the history of 746 MLB athletes. The athletes who had played multiple sports in high school experienced less injuries as professionals and played in more games compared to athletes who had played the same sport year round.
Conclusions
Athletes who wish to minimize risk for injury should play multiple sports rather than specializing in one sport early on in their career.
References
Confino, J., Irvine, J. N., O’Connor, M., Ahmad, C. S., & Lynch, T. S. (2019). Early sports specialization is associated with upper extremity injuries in throwers and fewer games played in Major League Baseball. Orthopaedic journal of sports medicine, 7(7), 2325967119861101.