BY NIAMH DAVIS, FitHub Letterkenny: Your child’s training regime may well be much better than yours.
They go to school, come home and are, maybe, enrolled in every sport you can think of because you want them to have options.
Dancing, basketball, netball, football, gymnastics, GAA, the list is endless.
But when does it become too much for your child’s body?
And what can you do to prevent your child suffering from “wear and tear” by the age of twenty-one.
Firstly, you are right to be varying the types of sports your child does!
Doing one sport constantly can cause a lot of injuries, for example, gymnastics can help you become flexible and that’s great, but at some stage that flexibility can cause instability in joints as the ligaments become “lax” and “loose” increasing the chance for dislocations and strains.
Combining gymnastics with weight training, however, is a very good way to build up the muscle just enough to give their knees, ankles and shoulders the support they have lost over the constant severe stretching.
If you feel the need to strap up one of their limbs before they go to football club or dancing or whatever the activity may be, then they probably shouldn’t be going at all.
Using a support or bandage long term isn’t always a good thing, while helping the weakened or injured muscles you are causing the “good” muscles to get lazy which will in turn cause more issues.
So an alternative is to see someone who deals with kinesiology tape and ask them to do an assessment to see if your child is ready to go back to sport and then to show you the application method and placement for the tape specific for the pain or weakness your child is feeling.
This is the best way to get an issue sorted. The professional you go to see will also be able to advise you of any other treatment that may be needed.
Remember also that your child’s body needs time to relax and catch up on itself. Don’t push your dreams or hopes on them.
Too often I see young people come in (14 – 18 year olds) and their parent or guardian have a quick chat about their child’s routine and how long ago an injury happened etc.… then the parent disappears for the half hour. I ask the child how they are getting on in that specific sport and it turns out they lost interest 6 months ago.
This and tiredness is a big thing that causes injury. If you are not 100% into something then your mind wonders, this is when things go wrong and an injury occurs.
Hopefully, it’s just a bruise or bump they get but depending on the sport it could be a lot worse.
There are so many injuries that your child will get over time through training.
Sports are full of heavy landing, twists, turns and stress on the body which can cause sprains, strains, breaks, bruises, muscle tears… the list is endless but the most important thing is to keep their body well maintained and don’t push them to over do it.
After a football match, dancing class or any sort of physical activity then get them in a hot shower or bath to ease of their muscles and prevent any stiffness.
If they have had a heavy impacted session, then ice their joints (knees, ankles or shoulders depending on the sport).
Most important of all if you are letting them take part in a club make sure they have the specific safety attire and at the very least send them everywhere with a decent fitting sturdy pair of runners with a good sole for shock absorbing or an insole with a good gel lining for the impact.
You are leading the way for your child.
Make sure to teach them how to balance sport and maintenance and look after their body to prevent injuries.
Don’t assume the clubs you are sending them to are doing it for you.
Columnist Niamh Davis is a neuro-musclar physical therapist based at Fit-Hub, Mountain Top, Letterkenny.
Her Facebook page is here:
https://www.facebook.com/Neuromuscular11/?ref=ts&fref=ts
