No Substitute
for FREE -PLAY
By Jorge Gómez, MD
This is the sedentary generation.
Consider how young people
dress: baggy pants held up
miraculously at the level of the pubic
symphysis; shoes worn untied.
Compare this to how kids dressed
in the 50’s & 60’s (those of us who are
old enough to remember): comfortably
fitting pants, held at the waist by
a belt, sneakers, tied. In this kind of
dress, youngsters could easily go from
sitting to running, jumping, playing.
How can children move instantly into
running and jumping if they’re coming
out of their shoes with their pants
falling down?
Not that it’s their fault. Young people
today live in families in which
both parents work (if they’re lucky
enough to live with both parents),
often long hours that preclude the parents
playing with their children.
Many kids live in apartments where
they can’t just run outside and play.
Many parents don’t feel comfortable
allowing their children to play outside
unattended. For similar safety concerns,
many of San Antonio’s parks,
playgrounds and green spaces are
under-utilized.
Some children live in neighborhoods
without sidewalks where they
can walk or bike. Other children live in
neighborhoods with sidewalks next to
the street, often obstructed periodically
by a mailbox or parked car, forcing
them to move onto the street. Whether
because of lack of supervision, no one
to play with or lack of safe playing
areas, most of today’s children are not
getting enough free play.
Why is free play so important? Free
play is critical for physical, gross
motor, fine motor and social development.
Through the 15 years I’ve been
practicing sports medicine, I’ve seen a
dramatic increase in the number of
young patients with serious knee and
ankle injuries and back pain.
Researchers have thus far been
befuddled by the dramatic increase in
ACL ruptures, particularly among
girls. Many studies looking at differences
in hormone levels, quadriceps
and hamstring strength, notch width,
ACL diameter and knee valgus between
injured and non-injured girls, and
between males and females, have
failed to account for the increase in
ACL injuries.
The explanation may lie in the lack of
free play. Coaches talk about the importance
of a quarterback getting “snaps” or repetitions. A quarterback who has just a
few snaps under his belt will not be able
to respond as quickly or effectively as
one who has had many snaps.
The same is true for movement:
many ACL injuries are non-contact
injuries. The athlete succumbs because
he or she does not have the repertoire
of movement skills for the muscles
that stabilize the knee to be able to
respond to novel dynamic situations.
Many youngsters have back pain
that is likely the result of poor “core
strength,” i.e., strength of the trunk
and pelvic muscles that help stabilize
the spine. As a result, they strain the
muscles in the back, often while doing
routine activities.
Play activities like tag, leap frog and
climbing are great for developing core
strength. How many children are doing
those kinds of activities these days?
Participation in organized sports is a
poor substitute for free play. Watch any
given youth league soccer, basketball or
baseball practice and you’ll see that the
movements are relatively constrained
when compared to what is seen on a
playground when children simply “play.”
I see just as much back strain among
athletes as non-athletes. Pediatric health
care providers and parents can help fight
this trend by encouraging parents to
play with their children, even if they
come home from work tired.
Children should be allowed time
and space for free-play. Free-play is
much more important for the longterm
physical and mental health of
children than participation in competitive
sports.
We all need to advocate for improvements
in the built environment,
specifically safe places to walk, run,
bike, and accessible green spaces for
children to play.
Dr. Jorge Gómez is a
pediatrician who specializes
in sports medicine.
He is the medical director
for youth sports treatment
and fitness for
CATZ Sports. He also
serves as a professor in
the department of pediatrics and director
of the fellowship program in pediatric
sports medicine at the University of Texas
Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Currently, Dr. Gómez serves as the Medical
Director of Athletic Medicine for the
University of Texas at San Antonio and is
the team physician for the Edgewood and
Southwest Independent School Districts.
Dr. Gómez graduated from Stanford
University where he participated in track
and field as a triple jumper. He was a
Robert Wood Johnson generalist physician
faculty scholar from 1996-2002. He also
served on the committee on Sports
Medicine and Fitness of the American
Academy of Pediatrics from 2000-2006.
Dr. Gómez is a native of San Antonio,
father of three children and has been practicing
medicine for 15 years.
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