Knee pain is a common injury affecting one third of adolescents and causing disruption to their sports training & performances. (Rathleff et al, BJSM, 2015) The most common knee injury is Patella Femoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS).\u00a0 Girls are affected more than boys and adolescent girls are also affected with ACL injuries 2-10 times more than boys.\u00a0 (Myer, 2013).<\/p>\n
Myer\u2019s research paper also suggested that one of the major differences between girls & boys during a landing task was the overactivation of the quadriceps with decreased hip flexor activation in girls.\u00a0 This led to an increase in rotational forces at the knee, called knee abduction moments.\u00a0 Knee Abduction moments appear as a movement of the knee inwards or internally rotating over the planted foot.\u00a0 (see image)\u00a0 This is clearly visible during landing in volleyball, netball, and basketball.<\/p>\n
![\"knee\"](\"http:\/\/intraining.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Knee-300x275.jpg\")
Sports that involve cutting movements such as football and touch increase the force of Knee Abduction Moments (KAM) due to the higher speeds of landing and rotation in a single leg stance. The greater the increase in the KAM, the greater the risk of PFP & ACL injuries.<\/p>\n
During maturation, boys had shown to have the opposite muscle activation to girls with an increased hip flexor activation.\u00a0 This higher activation of hip flexor muscles in the body could potentially balance the quadriceps activation & limit rotational forces at the knee.\u00a0 Myer also suggested that during maturation phases, girls with increased height and mass are more prone to earlier onset of PFPS.<\/p>\n
Based on these findings and on the more widely known understanding of quadriceps involvement, students who are experiencing PFPS need to undertake a quad strength, and neuromuscular exercise plan. Most of these students will respond well to a specific & individualised program designed by a qualified health professional.\u00a0 They also need to relearn jump landing strategies, cutting movements, and single leg movement patterns for their sport.\u00a0 Sometimes other interventions such as footwear, and added support such as orthotics may be required if there are more specific anatomical and biomechanical issues.<\/p>\n
A recent paper published this year in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that additional exercise sessions done at school helped increase the recovery time for PFPS in adolescents.\u00a0 (Rathleff, 2015).\u00a0 These can be conducted by the sports educator \/ trainer as part of the warm up routine with the team.\u00a0 FIFA have thoroughly researched ways to reduce injury risk and have produced an exercise routine called FIFA 11+\u00a0 that is readily accessible online.<\/p>\n
As sports educators, coaches and trainers are usually the first person to recognise injury and or complaints of pain by adolescent sports girls & boys.\u00a0 It is worth talking to the students, and referring them for further investigation with the view that they will be given an appropriate strength program.\u00a0 Further helping them at training by including their exercises into the warm up routine is more likely going to keep your players on the field for longer and hopefully performing without pain, or with less pain throughout the season.<\/p>\n
Written by Margot Manning <\/em> References<\/p>\n 1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Rathleff, M., Roos, E.M., et al. Exercise during school hours when added to patient education improves outcome for 2 years in adolescent patellofmoral pain:\u00a0 a cluster randomised trial.\u00a0 Br J Sports Med 2015; 49:406-412 Knee Pain, Teens, & Pre-teens Knee pain is a common injury affecting one third of adolescents and causing disruption to their sports training & performances. (Rathleff et al, BJSM, 2015) The most common knee injury is Patella Femoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS).\u00a0 Girls are affected more than boys and adolescent girls are also affected with ACL […]\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3834"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev3.dxcoders.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Margot_Manning\"](\"http:\/\/intraining.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/Margot_Manning-150x150.jpg\")
At intraining, we have a team of health professionals including podiatrists <\/a>& physiotherapists <\/a>who are experienced in treating sports related biomechanical injuries. Our clinicians understand the need to help students cope with the high loads of sporting commitments and injuries they experience. If you wish to discuss any concerns regarding injuries please contact us here<\/a>.<\/p>\n
\nPodiatrist, Level 2 Athletics Coach, Runner & Owner of intraining Running Centre<\/em>
\nintraining Running Injury Clinic<\/em><\/p>\n
\n2.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0Myer, D., Ford, K., et al.\u00a0 high knee abduction moments are common risk factors for patellofemoral pain(PFP) and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in girls:\u00a0 IS PFP itself a predictor for subsequent ACL injury?\u00a0 Br J Sports Med 2015; 49:2 118-122
\n3.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 FIFA 11+<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"