Why Do Sporty Kids Get Growing Pain?
Kids injuries are different to adult injuries. We regularly see kids here on Waiheke Island between the ages of 10-17. It’s really important to understand why our kids get sore and what can be done about it. I hope by reading this you understand the differences. When your child points at their Achilles it probably isn’t their achilles…..
Kids grow very differently compared to their friends. Did you know that in an under 13 sporting team there could be a variation of 3-5 biological years between the kids despite all being born within the same year!
Kids tend to grow feet first then legs then spine. So we generally see kids under 13 getting heel pain first which is called“severs disease” followed by front knee pain “osgoulds slatters disease” (13-14 years) then teenagers will then get spinal issues such as “pars defects” or “sheurmans disease”.
So what are all these “diseases”? They sound horrific but aren’t really.
The most common child to adolescent injuries revolve around the growth centres of their bones or growth plates. Kids bones don’t fully fuse until well into their teenage years. Where the area isn’t fused is called a growth centre. As bone grows during the child to adolescence phase fusion isn’t uniform or symmetrical. Parts of the bone can harden and others take a bit longer and remain soft. So the system around the growth plates isn’t balanced or stable. So as kids go through growth spurts their bones may grow but it doesn’t necessarily mean they are now harder and can handle the stress of jumping sports. Bones get long before they get strong so even though a kid has gone through a growth spurt their bones aren’t strong.
Interestingly girls bones don’t fully mature til around 18 and boys bones later at 21. Children and adolescents' long bone ends are 2-5 x weaker than adults.
As we grow we get this imbalance of soft areas of bone and hard areas of bone that aren’t happening equally. We get muscles and tendons that aren’t lengthening at the same rate as the bones are growing. These attach on the growth centres. When you play a lot of explosive sports such as soccer, gymnastics, tennis or rugby you can over load these growth centres. A combination of imbalance in the bone modelling system, tightness in the muscles and tendons with loads of sport and a lack of recovery leads to apophysitis.
It can vary from mild pain during a game on certain days to being barely able to walk. Symptoms can last up to 2 years and can really put kids off sport so it’s important to manage it well.
So what can be done?
I’ve found taking a holistic approach to the injury really helps
Some questions to ask yourself as a parent
Is your child getting enough sleep? Remember a lot of our recovery happens when we sleep. So if there is a lack of sleep this can influence bone remodelling . Think about screen use beofre bed. It delays good quality sleep. Think about teenagers. They tend to be night owls, gaming with their mates until bed which can be really late. Yet they are expected to be at school by 8.30.
Are you kids getting a good nutritional balance?
How much sport are they playing per week? One of the key aspects to treatment is working out their current weekly sporting diary. What days are the worst? What else are they doing that day? eg basket ball or touch rugby at lunch.
Also remember kids have PE at school.
It is really important to bring your kids in early when they have pain. Not only because we can manage them quickly but also to exclude other conditions that can masquerade as the above..
Particularly if there have been fevers, chills and a lot of night pain.
You also need guidance on how to strengthen the area. You also need to “wake up” the communication between the brain and the affected area.How many times have you seen your kids go through that phase of constantly hurting themselves. Walking into walls and tripping over. Rest alone in the presence of a lack of strength won’t help get them better.
So if you think your child is suffering from the above, bring them in. Just click the link HERE, fill in your details and bring them in. I’d also recommend bringing in a pair of shorts and their training shoes.