Do you know the most common injuries among kids and youth?
During puberty, the adolescent body is more fragile than usual and therefore particularly susceptible to injury. Typical injuries are fractures and damage to the growth zones. The growth zones are particularly vulnerable to injury, both in the form of fractures and overloading.
The increased fracture risk for children and young people is due to the long tubular bones in the skeleton growing in length before they grow in width. This means that the skeleton is not as thick and strong as in fully grown people. In addition, bone mineralization lags behind the growth in length during puberty, although there is generally increased bone mineralization during puberty (Bone mineralization is a process that turns newly formed tissue in the bone into strong bone tissue). At the end of the bones there are so-called growth zones until you are fully grown. The growth zones are also particularly vulnerable to injury, both in the form of fractures and overloading, as they consist of cartilage and not bone. This means that the growth zones are the weakest point in the event of an acute injury or a strain injury.
In addition to growth-related injuries, for example in the feet, knees and groin, which are strain injuries, children and young people can also suffer acute injuries. Typical acute injuries can be overuse injuries, concussions, dislocated kneecaps or cruciate ligament injuries.
Typical injuries:
- Schlatters and Sinding-Larsen syndrome
- Severs
- Dislocated kneecap
- Overstretching
- Concussion of the brain
- Groin pain
- Anterior cruciate ligament injury