05/01/2025
Youth Athletes
Greg Spindler
owner at Carolina SRT and co developer of Cranial Structural Bodywork, Chief Presenter for Body for Peak Performance
May 1, 2019
Youth Athletes
The young athlete is not an adult, donât treat them as such!
I grew up under a premier Physical Therapist, Peggy Spindler, who treated some the worldâs best runners in Gainesville, Fl during the 70âs running boom. That title phrase has stuck with me ever since. When I had a running complication, I always wanted to be treated like an adult during my young teenage years. My mother repeatedly said this to me, âyou are not an adult, so you donât get treated like oneâ. This was and still is great advice to all therapists working with young adolescent athletes. They do not adapt the same way adults do due to their growth spurts.
Another influence at the time was Dr. Robert Cade. Yes, the inventor of Gatorade. Each year my physical for the school sports team went through him. He always looked at a chart, and asked me how much I have grown lately. I, being a teenager, asked why the significance of that question. He explained to me how that tracking the growth in height of the youth athletes helps in making decisions for run mileage for summer, and seasonal training. If the runners grew more than a certain % in a 6 month period, the coach should and would adjust training for a 6 month period. The rationale for doing so was the observation that a sudden increase in height corresponded closely to a higher chance of injuring a groin, stress fractures bones or a hernias in the period of time after the growth spurt.
The principle when it comes to youth athletes is completely sound. The long bones grow in length before the muscles elongate and develop enough strength to counteract the sudden increase in lever lengths. Imagine a young developing runner, lacrosse player, or soccer player who suddenly has a longer leg but not the muscles to generate the force required to move that heavier and now longer leg. Something will, highly likely, break down.
Most therapists tend to work of the understanding that the bones grow about a year before the muscles develop length and strength. And this forms the basis of injuries sustained by growing young bodies. If the bones grow longer but the muscles remain the same length, then the muscle will have a relative tightness. The structure most susceptible to overload in this situation is where the muscle, via the attaching tendons, join the bones. At these sites we have growth plates.
The injuries in young athletes that are growth related and influence the growth plates are called âtraction apophysitisâ injuries. The areaâs most vulnerable are the Achilles tendon insertion (Severs disease), the patella tendon on the tibia (Osgood Schlatters disease), the quads tendon into the knee cap (Sindling Larsen disease) and the attachment of the hip flexors onto the anterior pelvis.
The really interesting thing is that injuries might occur in predictable time sequences. The Severs disease usually occurs first (in boys around 12), then Osgood Schlatters at about 14 and then the hip traction problems around 16 and 17. But also can be predicted by their Common Core Pattern found in 80% of the population. This is the origin of a compensation rule that travels down through the spine, into the unbalanced hips, knees, ankles and feet. And donât forget the upperbody has the compensations of shoulders, neck and head.
Sometimes the body doesnât improve with time as muscles are always trying to catch up to the bones. This is where additional help needs to step in with a therapist trained in knowing the Common Core Pattern. Pushing through is not a therapeutic approach. âyou get over itâ is not a wise therapeutic approach. Have someone read your body standing. Look for the asymmetries. Are the:
Shoulders level?
Hips level?
Head and eyes level?
Knees the same?
Feet the same?
TAKE ACTION IF YOU FIND ASYMMETRIES, BEFORE THE INJURY OCCURS!
As the owner of Carolina Structural Restoration Therapy, LLC, Greg helps many people who suffer with acute and chronic pain. Using advanced techniques involving soft-tissue releases, he treats back, head, neck and shoulder pain, as well as a host of other strain patterns.
