Welcome to the second issue in a series of articles that will help support your young athlete through some of the most pivotal moments in their sporting lives.
Injuries in children are far more common when compared to injuries in adults, and even more prevalent during the periods associated with rapid growth e.g. puberty and peak height velocity (the period of most rapid height increases). Due to their new size, strength and abilities, some boys may struggle to balance their newfound loading with the current capacity of tissues in their body. When this happens, both growth-related and normal injuries are more likely to occur.
When the volume or intensity of activity exceeds the current capacity of the body, it takes steps to try and protect itself by laying down more tissue to support current structures. However, this tissue takes time to mature, and is essentially weaker. This is therefore more susceptible to injury during this period of adaptation.
Traditional thought around sport and growth-related injuries was that they were caused by athletes doing ‘too much’. This mindset has now shifted towards the notion that young athletes can cope with extremely high volumes of training if they are allowed the time to gradually adapt to the regime through appropriate recovery.
Some of the common causes of spikes in a training load are listed below:
