Injuries occur when the volume or intensity of activity exceeds the current capacity of the muscles and bones such as at the start of a new term or season. They do more than they have trained for. Alternatively, their capacity to exercise might be lower due to inadequate sleep, or nutrition or perhaps they have been stressed with exams or experienced a recent growth spurt and they may not be able to tolerate the same level of exercise intensity or volume as usual.
Very few children who love their sport would be happy to be told to do less of what they enjoy. So, how do we boost their capacity to tolerate more?
Adopt the 4 R’s recovery approach:
- Recharge and rest
- Refuel
- Rehydrate
- Repair and grow
Recharge and rest
Children are just like mobile phones. They need to be recharged each night to perform well, and they need adequate energy for optimal performance.
Just like phones need to be recharged to function efficiently, so does the brain and body. In the deep part of our sleep, we perform many of the same functions that are achieved by plugging your phone in to the mains.
The benefits of high-quality sleep include:
• Perform vital updates
• Scan for viruses
• Repair damaged tissues
• Build stronger muscles and bones
• Upload skills learnt in the day to the hard drive
Children need more sleep during growth spurts so make sure they are getting lots of early nights before competitions and feel refreshed in the morning.
Refuel
If sporty children do not eat enough for what they do, they will prioritise where the available energy is spent. The essential functions like the heart and lungs grasp what they can for survival and the child uses what they need to play sport. But what about “non-essential” survival systems like immunity, digestion, growth and reproduction?
Energy may start to get diverted from these systems and the child may start to feel regularly tired, ill or injured.
On days when they do more volume or intensity, or during growth spurts, make sure that they are given more fuel by adding extra sandwiches packed with chicken, tuna, cheese or eggs, with added avocado or mayonnaise for greater energy intake.
Rehydrate
Children need to take on fluid little and often. They may often report hunger but quite often this is a sign of dehydration rather than hunger. Help them to create good routines about having water at school and during training and keep water bottles filled in the car. Many children use energy drinks which can be helpful during sessions lasting longer than 90 minutes, on hot days or sports involving high intensity but try to avoid these at night and make sure children wash down with water after drinking energy drinks to protect their teeth.
Repair and grow
When the volume or intensity of physical activity exceeds the body’s capacity, it triggers a protective response. Bones and muscles, exposed to sudden spikes in activity, attempt to reinforce themselves by laying down new tissue. This process occurs after sporting activity and during the deepest parts of sleep, so factoring in rest days and recovery time and prioritising sleep is key to successful energy management.
Some children seem to grow without experiencing too many problems with injury or coordination. However, for others, especially those who have an excessively large or fast growth spurts, it can be a miserable experience. Energy required for growth can reduce the capacity of the young athlete. There is simply less in the tank, and they may not be able to tolerate the same level of exercise intensity or volume as usual and be more at risk of developing an injury.
If the child is coping with what they are doing in terms of activities, there is no need to reduce their activity level down. If they are starting to get viruses, grumpy and sore, then they may need more fuel and need to adjust how much they are doing for a while.
Stronger children appear to get fewer injuries. They are more resilient to fluctuations in training load so encourage children to do regular strength exercises. Technique is paramount so ensure that they are given a lesson in resistance training by a coach with experience in adolescent athletes.
In future blogs we will consider the signs and symptoms of knowing when a child is struggling to cope and are at risk of exceeding their capacity and how to manage these periods.
