Sporty Children and Growth Spurts

A growth industry we need to invest in

When your children go through a growth spurt there is often a dramatic decrease in their range of movement. At the same time, many feel pain and discomfort, especially in their legs. During an intensive period of growth, the muscular and skeletal structures of the body can develop at different rates. This can create pain in the associated muscles and joints.

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Isabella grew 9 cm in one year. See how Lower Limber® helped her get back on track.

“Growth in children can be extremely rapid. Some studies have shown increases of half to a full centimetre in a single day; in one longitudinal study of 1000 children in NSW, a Year 8 boy grew 16cm over a 12-month period while a girl in Year 7 grew 13cm”

Growth spurts generally occur between 8-13 years of age in girls and 10-15 years of age in boys. The associated pain and discomfort that many children experience is often dismissed as growing pains – a temporary complaint “that we all went through”.

We all know holding a child’s attention can be difficult if the education processes and results can’t be achieved in a relative short period of time.

“Lower Limber® achieves measurable results with minimal effort which is highly motivating. Lower Limber® not only helps maximise performance; it also helps prevent injuries from occurring not just in our legs but in our entire body.”

The Lower Limber® Sequential Stretching and Activation System has the unique ability to coordinate the legs, spine and the limbs of the upper body so that they can communicate in a meaningful way. And the whole body benefits.

A growth industry we need to invest in

by Stuart Andrews

It is frightening how many people can’t touch their toes. This basic indicator for measuring someone’s range of movement has a strong correlation with the ever-increasing number of muscular skeletal injuries. Many of these injuries, which can have far reaching implications extending well into our more senior years, could have been avoided if basic range-of-movement exercises had been implemented from an early age.

This brings me to the much-neglected subject matter of children going through a growth spurt. When this happens, there is often a dramatic decrease in a child’s range of movement. At the same time, many feel pain and discomfort, especially in their legs.

During an intensive period of growth, the muscular and skeletal structures of the body can develop at different rates. This can create pain in the associated muscle and joints.

Often the child is also regularly participating in sporting activities where additional loads are being placed on the muscular skeletal systems. So they’re not just going through the natural development of growing, but asking their bodies to cope with dynamic movements and sometimes physical contact.

Intensive training sessions have progressively evolved to be the norm in children’s competitive sport. These days, many children participate in sporting activities at a higher level of intensity / frequency and start specialising in their chosen sports much earlier in life. This can lead to chronic injuries if their range of movement is not monitored during this transformative period in their lives.

What we don’t realise is that most children don’t come out the other side with the same range of movement they had before they went through their growth spurt. For example, children who can easily touch their toes prior to a growth spurt often undergo a dramatic decline in their range of movement in a relatively short period of time. They suddenly find themselves not being able to reach their shins. Often children aren’t aware that they have lost the ability to perform the relatively simple act of touching their toes because they don’t regularly check their range of movement.

Growth in children can be extremely rapid. Some studies have shown increases of half to a full centimetre in a single day; in one longitudinal study of 1000 children in NSW, a Year 8 boy grew 16cm over a 12-month period while a girl in Year 7 grew 13cm.

Ideally, establishing a satisfactory range of movement in a child should begin well before the onset of the growth spurt period, to help minimise any pain and discomfort by allowing them to transition through what can only be described as a potentially disruptive period in a child’s life.

Failing to monitor a child’s range of movement or, more importantly, not directly involving the child in their own physical development / awareness can significantly increase the risk of injury occurring. This also potentially impedes basic movement skills essential for normal neuromuscular function or, at a more advanced level, the more complex movement patterns associated with sporting activities. It is generally recognised that performance potential and being able to demonstrate a satisfactory to an above-average range of movement go hand in hand.

This is where the Lower Limber^® Sequential Stretching and Activation System comes into its own. It’s a portable, fully adjustable system that the whole family can use and has the unique ability to help children become aware of how the spine and the legs need to relate with one another.

These are key considerations for maintaining motivation levels. We all know holding a child’s attention can be difficult if the education processes and results can’t be achieved in a relatively short period of time. Lower Limber^® not only helps maximise performance; it also helps prevent injuries from occurring not just in our legs but in the entire body. This is because the system has the unique ability to coordinate the legs, spine and the limbs of the upper body so that they can communicate in a meaningful way. And the whole body benefits.