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Article: Weight Lifting for Kids? Wait Until Child Is Age 8.
- Article from:
- Family Practice News
- Article date:
- July 15, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Is weight lifting safe for children?
The answer to this old, much-debated question is increasingly "yes"--if children don't start strength training before age 8 years, learn proper techniques, and train in supervised settings, experts said at the annual meeting of the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine.
"Kids want to work out," observed Dr. Paul Stricker, a pediatrician at the Vanderbilt University Sports Medicine Center in Nashville, Tenn. Some seek to excel in particular sports or want to emulate parents or siblings who lift. Others have less healthy motivations, like the wish to look like the "beautiful people" ...