By Tim Koba
Athletes are beginning to specialize in their sports at a very early age these days. As a result, athletic trainers and sports medicine specialists working with high school students are seeing an increase in the same types of injuries within each particular sport. By way of example, we are seeing more swimmers suffering from shoulder pain and rotator cuff injuries, more cross-country runners with knee pain from patella femoral problems, and more soccer players with ankle sprains and ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) injuries.