Adolescent Athletes - Fighting Fit Physiotherapy Nerang Gold Coast

What You Need to Watch Out For!

This is an important blog for all parents of children and adolescents involved in sport.

Whether your kid is the next super star in the making or just loves being involved in sport.

Take a read over some important things to ensure you child enjoys sport long into their future.

Participation in youth sports is increasingly popular with many kids turning into young athletes that will play all year round.

Some even specialize in one sport during their childhood or teen years. During this time some adolescents may reach their peak and compete either nationally or even internationally.

To get to a high level, it is common for some kids and young athletes to be training multiple times a day, for longer than 20+ hours each week. If you then add in competition time, there is a lot of volume involved.

To add to this, the younger athlete will often under fuel for sport with inadequate nutrition along with a lack of understanding on strategies to help enhance recovery, adapt to training and optimise their performance for competition.

This gives rise to adolescent injuries such as:

Osgood schlatters
Severes disease
Traction appophysitis of the hip (hip pain)
Perthes disease
Osteocondritis dissecans
Jumpers knee or “patellofemoral joint pain”
Stress reactions and fractures
And many more!

Why do adolescents get injured in sport?

The young athlete is vulnerable to these types of injury due to the high training volumes and the physical and physiological process of growth.

In addition to this, the growing athlete will also display underdeveloped coordination, skill, proprioception (joint position sense) and strength.

This places them at increasing risk of other soft tissue and adolescent injury types.

The benefits of participation in sports at a young age are well known, it is important to understand and appreciate the risk of injury risk as well.

It is essential for the parents with children in sport as well as coaches of these athletes to have a good understanding of injury prevention practices to avoid pain and injury.

This also promotes good training principles and injury management practices for later in life.

After all, we all want our kids successful for a long time in sport right?

Below is a quick list of some of the more common injuries to look out for in your growing athlete.

Osgood-Schlatters

Osgood schlatters is an extremely common injury in the athletic adolescent population.

Young people will typically describe localised pain at the front of the knee, just below the knee cap.

It is typically aggravated with exercise or sports with lots of running and jumping activities.

But also in sports that require lots of kicking.

So keep your eyes peeled for kids compliant of pain, even redness and swelling right on the bony point at the top of the shinbone.

This complaint of pain is extremely common during growth spurts.

Often flaring up and at it’s worst when training frequency and intensity is highest as your child is in a growth period!

This is because we grow from our bones first, and with the high training loads causes irritation of the growth plate.

It is typically managed with activity modification, education on training loads during growth periods, simple analgesia as well as strengthening exercises.

Severs Disease

(Severs Apophysitis)

Heel pain is a common complaint in the young athlete.

Again, this condition pain is exacerbated with activity particularly with running and jumping based sports.

However this time pain is localised around where the achilles attaches to the heel.

Like Osgood Schlatters, Severs is an irritation of the growth plate (apophysis). It becomes inflamed due to the forces on in from sport as the body is growing.

Managed with activity modification during growth periods, simple analgesia, manual therapy to address tight muscles as well as home based stretching and strengthening exercises.

Severs can be well managed in all kids to allow them to enjoy sport and perform at the best week in week out.

Traction Apophysitis of the Hip

Because of the large muscles that attach around the hip, excessive amounts of activity can cause pain at the front of the hip, groin and pelvis.

This will often be seen with changes in your Childs gait either walking, running or both, pain with sitting to standing after a half time break and holding the hip or pelvis when in pain during or following training or game day.

This type of injury can be prevalent in sports that involve lots of kicking or sprinting.

Once again management generally consists of activity modification, training load management and education, simple analgia during flare up’s and a progressive strengthening program.

However, any hip pain in children should be properly assessed as there are a few nasties we want to rule out as well.

We have seen kids in the clinic misdiagnosed or mismanaged causing the parent and child avoidable distress.

The above areas are common locations for pain and problems with condition.

Patellofemoral Pain

Patellofemoral pain is an umbrella term for pain at the front of the knee.

This pain is different to Osgood Schlatters as It is typically located anywhere in or around the knee cap.

It can be achy, sharp, throbbing and usually felt during or after exercise.

If it isn’t allowed time to settle or well managed it may become chronic and always painful no matter what your child is doing.

This condition is common adolescent athletes but also seen in many adults too.

There can be many factors which can contribute to patellofemoral pain.

The most common include an increase in training load, muscle strength imbalances as well as a person’s biomechanics.

The best thing for adolescent knee pain is early diagnosis and management with appropriate interventions for your child.

There are many more adolescent sports injuries to be aware of. These are just the tip of the ice burg.

Keep an eye out for future blogs and tips on how to best manage these high volumes to keep you child performing at their peak and avoiding pain or injury.

If you child is experiencing pain during sport, whether at training or during competition it is important to investigate this and not over-look it.

I have seen many young athletes push through pain to the point it stops them and rules them out of sport for prolonged periods of time.

This could have been avoided with early diagnosis and management.

Don’t be that parent or coach!

If you want to know more or if your kid is experiencing any of these conditions, feel free to get in contact with me here at the physiotherapy clinic.

I would love to help you out and keep your child in sport for the long term.

Dean Phelps

Dean is a registered Gold Coast Physiotherapist with undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Human Movement and Exercise Science. His background has developed his vision for Fighting Fit Physiotherapy to focus on optimal health and peak physical performance for every single patient. Utilising his many qualifications, in depth knowledge of the body and passion for exercise he can provide a holistic approach to your treatment and exercise prescription to get the best outcome.

Brenda Samosa

05:52 07 Nov 24

I had a really bad shoulder and had been seeing a different physio for 3 months (from a different place) I got told Tyson was good. After just a few sessions the movement was coming back. I’m 66 and was worried I would have to stop surfing. But with a lot of help from Tyson I’m back in the waves ( thank you so so much)

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Shout out to Max from fighting fit physio. He helped me out massively straight after shoulder surgery and back into work and sports in no time. Couldn’t recommend anyone better!

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Professional & very thorough, you know that patient outcomes are of the highest priority.
I highly recommend this business.

Riley Wilson

08:27 14 Jul 24

Be AWARE they’ll immediately try to commit you to multiple follow up sessions after your initial consultation. This happened to me and then I later found out that as it just so happens, they have a cancellation policy that says you have to pay 100% of the consultation fee for cancelling. They failed to tell me this when they were pushy in committing me to 6 sessions after my consult, so that was a really nice little surprise.

I was already uncomfortable with how pushy they were in having me commit to so many sessions, so when I heard about the policy I just cancelled all together. So, I can’t speak further to the quality of their service throughout therapy phase. FYI this was also a few months ago now, it’s possible (though unlikely) they may have changed the policy. Just ask the question.

Megan Shelley

06:51 03 May 24

Fighting Fit Physiotherapy is hands down the best physio I've encountered. Having tried multiple physios for various injuries, I always find myself coming back to them. Their expertise consistently exceeds expectations, helping me get back to my sport faster than I thought possible. Their personalized approach and attention to detail make all the difference. I could not recommend a better or more exceptional physio team!

Gina Matthews

08:41 24 Mar 23

Can't recommend this place high enough. I was in so much pain with my knee an had been for months through advise an exercises I'm now looking forward to returning to gym an back riding my horses in endurance thank you so much

Courtney Halse

01:36 29 Nov 22

Kyle was knowledgeable, personable and professional. He saw me through my second pregnancy and continued to work with me until 6 months post partum on issues with my back. Would recommend anyone to go and see him.

Also shout out to Georgia on the front desk. She makes you feel welcome and brings a sense of warmth to the place!

Alli Davenport

08:07 04 Nov 22

After hip replacement surgery in February I wanted toget back into weight training legs, I started with Mitch 18 weeks ago and after a lot of hard work and sweat I am able to safely train again, I cannot thank Mitch enough for his support,encouragement and knowledge. The staff are friendly and helpful and I always looked forward to my session's

Robert Parkinson

10:50 15 Aug 22

This is the second time I have been treated by the team at FFP.
As a health professional myself I have been impressed with the level of care I have received from all members of the team.
The personalised treatment and rehabilitation programs have produced excellent results and I have completed both programs pain free and feeling stronger than before my injuries.
During the program there was constant communication and follow up and they were very accommodating with my work schedule.
All in all it was a very holistic experience and I would highly recommend the service.

Kiri Canavan

07:30 08 Jun 22

Tyson was amazing! We came up with an 8 week plan at my first consultation with weekly check ins and updates to exercises. 8 weeks later, I am pain free and able to train harder than ever. Highly recommend and the staff are all fantastic and super accomodating!

What You Need to Watch Out For!

Why do adolescents get injured in sport?

Osgood-Schlatters

Severs Disease

Traction Apophysitis of the Hip

Patellofemoral Pain

The Desk Worker’s Guide to a Pain-Free Neck

Hip Osteoarthritis: Why It Hurts and How Physio Can Help

The #1 Mistake Athletes Make After an Ankle Injury

The Secret to Beating Back Pain? Walk This Way!

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