Winter Sports Injuries and how to prevent them!

Is your child involved in football, soccer, netball or gymnastics?

Exercise is great for children and benefits their mind and body, but is your child exercising too much? Did you know we are seeing an increase in injuries in children due to intense exercise?

Many children are not supporting their bodies in the correct way whilst exercising which increases the build-up of tension and injury. Also, kids with irregular bowels or food intolerances may also experience inflammation and abnormal neurological messages, specifically around the pelvis, making the nearby muscles and joints vulnerable to injury.

Injuries children may experience include:

Stress fractures – in the leg, foot or even back pain. Common with cricket bowlers, soccer, football and in jumping sports like gymnastics.

Shin splints – felt in the lower leg, can occur from running on hard surfaces for example cross country, netball and/or sports involving wearing boots.

Plantar fasciitis – pain in the heel or bottom of the foot, where imbalances in muscles and joints cause flat feet and tight calves.

Shoulder pain – Often involving the rotator cuff in sports like swimming, tennis and football.

Back and Hip pain– Possible across all sports, can be caused by misalignments or muscle strains.

What can your children do to prevent these injuries?

Stretch – as kids grow they go from being able to get away without stretching to quickly tightening up and being very inflexible.

Baths – If kids are starting to get tight calves or doing lots of running more than 4 times a week, place their feet in a bucket of ice after exercise. It’s best to use cold water first then add ice and keep the involved foot in there for 10 mins. (All English Premier League teams are doing ice baths these days!) Another option is a nice relaxing soak in an Epsom salts bath. This helps to relax muscles and draws out toxins from the body. Regular Epsom salt baths have been shown to improve the symptoms of many health conditions including sprains, bruises and muscle soreness and will reduce inflammation.

Nutrition – A good wholesome diet with plenty of fibrous foods is recommended for repair and to replenish energy. This includes protein and good carbs such as wholegrains.

Supplements – High quality Omega fish oil is recommended as this also aids inflammation.