Anonymous wrote:No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.

More likely this was due to his being overweight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.

Reading this, that is entirely too much. But I know it is difficult to see that when doing day to day life.

Yes, injury through overuse is very common. It does not have to be a stress fracture. It can be painful chronic tendinitis that is only healed with a long period of rest.

Will preventative strength training help avoid that?

My kid had an ankle growth plate injury we thought was a sprain (nothing on xray), then overuse, etc. He'd rest, play then it would come back. Rinse, repeat. I found a great orthopedist who from touch alone and jump on one foot--immediately identified it as a growth plate fracture (don't show up on xrays). He put a walking cast on it for 3 weeks. It came off and it's been 4 years and he has never had a single issue with that ankle again. The boot didn't work because it would come off at home and he'd run around the house, chase his brother, etc.

Pretty much it's a mixed bag. Having to do with body mechanics/personal build, fitness, early specialization, lack of training, too much training without rest, no stretching, etc..

My older son has had so many injuries over the years: a type of Osgood's (sindig-larsen-johansson); ankle sprains ; hip and groin injuries, etc. He has a large frame, stockier build. Males on my husband's side have a lot of this stuff. He has very tight hamstrings (noted by our regular physician). He was a late grower that then had a huge burst. A lot of his injuries have been directly related to this. He also is really bad about stretching---and we had to teach him about proper warm up not jumping in 150% from static. But, I also have seen him get hurt when activity level is ramped up too quickly, like in pre-season or a 3-day ID camp, etc. and he didn't prepare ahead of time with adequate training.

His younger brother literally has never been injured. He is skin and bones and never stops moving. He can bend like a pretzel, go down in a scrum/massive twisting of body parts and come through it unscathed. He can roll his ankle and have zero issues. His frame is very different from his brothers. He is slighter in frame. He also kept playing other sports while older brother only wanted to do soccer/futsal from age 10-11 onward. He is much more flexible than sibling. He's the type of kid that will play a full hard 90 min soccer game and then jump on his bike when he gets home to meet his friends to play basketball at the park. He will not rest. He's like the energizer bunny. Though he's 13 and really hasn't started to grow yet. Some of his teammates are built exactly like his older brother and have already grown a lot--they have been plagued with a lot of injuries this season (back, hip, knee, etc). They are thick, large framed/boned and grew quickly.

We are hassling both our kids to stretch properly and warm up properly...and if they have been on the bench--start jogging up and down the sideline/warming up before going in (in cold weather even more important). Also, getting them to do weight training (more for older son). Older son's injuries really tapered off after growth stabilized.

He obviously training a lot and sounds like he is in good shape. Are you having him do any strength work and preventative work like yoga?

He does strength training with my husband (we have a little home gym with weights). He refuses to do yoga, I have tried to encourage.

No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.


Reading this, that is entirely too much. But I know it is difficult to see that when doing day to day life.

Yes, injury through overuse is very common. It does not have to be a stress fracture. It can be painful chronic tendinitis that is only healed with a long period of rest.

Yeah, and the thing is he is very decent, but not great, at soccer. However, he does really love exercise, and it truly has a positive effect on his behavior ( he has some behavioral disabilities). But we are torn about whether he is overdoing it. The issue is that when he doesn't get a ton of exercise, it leads to increased acting out at school and mean behavior towards his brother.

Strength training is great for injury prevention but so many people want to believe that it will make them big and bulky or stunt their growth. You can lead a horse to water....

Fitness vs overuse will depend entirely on the circumstances. If your kid does nothing but sit on the couch between practices/games, injuries are likely fitness-related. If they are highly active but only in one sport, it’s probably overuse. If your child is active outside of practices/games but does a variety of activities, it could be a variety of things.

My kid is U14. He’s a goalkeeper, and has a training plan of core strengthening exercises and strength/agility drills that he does during the off-season and during regular practices while the rest of the team is running. Between those workouts and the ones they do in his weekly goalkeeper practices, he doesn’t bother doing additional workouts during the week. No separate running workouts, but he spends a lot of his free time riding bikes with his friends, playing a variety of sports with his friends, walks a mile round trip each school day going to/from school, etc., so his fitness level seems fine for his position.

As for having it called out by others, last year was the first year we saw fitness level being a significant issue, because of the move to the full sized field. The coach addressed it with specific players, but the players themselves didn’t seem to say much about it. This year the players are taking about it more directly to each other because they’re tired of having certain teammates be consistent weak links due to conditioning.

I think many "overuse" injuries come about because the athlete only participated in the sport. The injury is sometimes preventable if they follow a program targeted to strengthen certain muscles use in said sport.

Anonymous wrote:Are most kids that get hurt / injured (most get hurt rather than legitimate injury ) due to over use or more because the are not in game shape. I dont think many players stretch and warmup properly. How much cardio and strength work do they put in and what what age? When do teammates start calling out each other for not being in shape?

Would love to know what the EPL / La liga fitness standards are for Youth players.

I think overuse injuries are more common during puberty as bones grow and ligaments get stretched. Breaks seems to be more prevalent too. Growing along can cause temporary imbalance, which can make you fall or favor one side.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.

Reading this, that is entirely too much. But I know it is difficult to see that when doing day to day life.

Yes, injury through overuse is very common. It does not have to be a stress fracture. It can be painful chronic tendinitis that is only healed with a long period of rest.

Will preventative strength training help avoid that?

Anonymous wrote:No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.

He obviously training a lot and sounds like he is in good shape. Are you having him do any strength work and preventative work like yoga? If there are any hours left in the week LOL. How do you treat his overuse injuries while trying to keep up with team trainings?

Anonymous wrote:No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.

Reading this, that is entirely too much. But I know it is difficult to see that when doing day to day life.

Yes, injury through overuse is very common. It does not have to be a stress fracture. It can be painful chronic tendinitis that is only healed with a long period of rest.

No idea generally, but my 12 year old son was injured through over use. He practices with his travel team twice a week, his year round futsal team once a week, plus usually 1-2 games a week, and one session per week with his private trainer. On top of that, he is in a track club at school one day per week. He developed a stress fracture this year and it has been tough on him. He hates having to take a break from exercise.

Are most kids that get hurt / injured (most get hurt rather than legitimate injury ) due to over use or more because the are not in game shape. I dont think many players stretch and warmup properly. How much cardio and strength work do they put in and what what age? When do teammates start calling out each other for not being in shape?