What can you tell me about 11 y.o.s and growth plate injuries?

[obbay]

I've heard that a lot of 11 y.o. girls sustain injuries related to "growth plates" while playing sports.

my youngest DD will be turning 11 soon, she grew a lot this past year and plays a lot of sports.

so I would like to pick the collective brain about this to see if there's anything in particular I should be aware of or avoid.

we had one player miss all but the first two games last spring because she broke a growth plate in her foot or ankle playing soccer. this spring DD will be adding soccer to her softball and figure skating schedule. (I don't know who's bright idea it was to have soccer run in the spring...)

thanks!

 

[cshilt]

Q&A Growth Plate Injuries

Childhood Sports Injuries and Their Prevention: A Guide for Parents with Ideas for Kids

Not a lot you can do to prevent them other than performing a good warm-up. We were lucky enough to not have any growth plate problems, but I had some girls who did.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

I've heard that a lot of 11 y.o. girls sustain injuries related to "growth plates" while playing sports.

my youngest DD will be turning 11 soon, she grew a lot this past year and plays a lot of sports.

so I would like to pick the collective brain about this to see if there's anything in particular I should be aware of or avoid.

we had one player miss all but the first two games last spring because she broke a growth plate in her foot or ankle playing soccer. this spring DD will be adding soccer to her softball and figure skating schedule. (I don't know who's bright idea it was to have soccer run in the spring...)

The biggest problems are related to overuse and specializing in just one sport too soon.

Soccer seems to be the worst sport for this.

You should see the knees of one of my moms on my 3rd grade girls soccer team. Not pretty.

If you've got a really good athlete, I would put them in multiple sports.

Also, with younger girls it's growth plate injuries and with older girls it's mostly ACLs.

 

[Chris O'Leary]

Not a lot you can do to prevent them other than performing a good warm-up.

Stretching and warm-ups won't help at all.

Generally, the only solution is to avoid overuse.

With boys, poor throwing mechanics can increase risks dramatically due to pitching. I don't that's as much of an issue for girls right now, but I'd bet things are getting worse and not better due to over-specialization and overuse.

 

[obbay]

Thanks for your help (and the links), I 'm feeling better about this. Fortunately she is always active and except for figure skating (which is no-impact) all year, she plays different sports in different seasons. hopefully the growth plate bullet will miss us.

her older sister never had growth plate issues, but still managed to break enough bones to end more than one season prematurely.

thanks again!