Athletics Weekly recently published an interesting article written by a young female runner about the transition from junior to senior competition and training. It brought to mind an article which drew a lot of attention a couple of years ago, covering in part the risks of stress fractures. So we asked Granville Courtnell, our Coaching Coordinator, for some useful guidance for parents and athletes alike:
I’ve set out some basics stress injury causes that can develop by young athletes participating in running activities and if your child complains about unusual pain in their ankles, knees or shins then both you and your child should be speaking about this with their running coach – if he or she has not already picked up something is not as it should be.
It’s also important to understand that your child’s continued activity as a keen developing young athletes will always produce some pain and this continues throughout their athletic career. It’s simply from aching limbs, which would ease back after warming up and stretching on a regular basis.
There is also another scenario that can cause these painful strains, which coaches will understand – “Growing Spurts”. Not all adolescents experience this but many young athletes will have to ease up on the intensity of training until their body has become used to the physical changes they’re going through. This period is usually triggered in girls from age 13 and boys from 15.
That’s another chapter but needs to be understood and the coach will know all of this.
Back to the head line “Stress Fracture” – it’s an “over-load” of activity and it’s extremely important to diagnose asap and although painful it’s the body’s way of protecting itself – the next injury if nothing is done is a ‘trauma break” of some kind and can become very serious due to the continued over-load.
The conversation you need to have with your child and their coach should cover the following
- How does the coach in terms of volume and intensity deliver the training sessions for your child?
- How many activities is your child being asked to compete in by over- zealous schools? Talented pupils are always targeted to compete against other schools. If you add that to their club sessions is that too much?
- How many activities are you as a parent/s expecting your child to participate in? Let your child’s welfare and enjoyment come before your dreams.
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Otherwise their desire to continue to senior athletics can be short lived.
- Is the athlete altering any agreed training sessions they do between coached sessions – i.e. running too fast, running too far or running too many times?
All of these have a bearing on athletes developing stress fractures.
On the good side these injuries can be overcome – but if not dealt with properly can leave a continued “weakness”.
Speak with your coach about that or myself.