Parents Growth plate injuries?

[Rapunzel]

What does it mean? It sounds scary, I overheard some parents talking about it at a comp earlier in the year and one was saying something along the lines of increased hours=increased risk of growth plate injuries? Is it because of the increased exposure or is it around repetition of moves? It sounded like a very dramatic conversation and a bit of jealousy perhaps "ooh you don't want your child training 12 hours a week, they'll get a growth plate injury you know".
If a child was doing say 5 hours gymnastics a week and 6 hours of another sport (no wonder homework is a squeeze!) does the variety reduce the risk of injury? How many rest days/week is recommended for a 9yr old?

 

[Faith]

my belief, though I'm no expert, is its repetitive impact that causes growth plate injuries.

Lots of clubs minimise by training into pits, tumble tracks, soft mats etc.

5 hours a week gymnastics should be ok. Especially at a lower level with no high repetitions. It depends on her other sport though, if it's similarly high impact like track, running/high jumping, dancing then you'll have to look at the total hours and include them in the risk. If it's swimming or cycling then not so much to worry about.

 

[Faith]

http://www.niams.nih.gov/health_info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/default.asp#1

 

[sce]

Ds has Osgood Schlatters, which is an inflammation of the growth plate at the knee. I learned a lot from the sports doctor. Part of that growth plate is just cartilage until puberty. It is located at the front of the bone, not above. Around puberty it turns to bone and attaches to the growth plate at the top of the lower leg bone. As this process happens, it can get inflamed esp. when a child is active and uses their legs a lot. A lack of flexibility or imbalance in leg strength can contribute to the problem. For some it's just a nuisance pain, for others it can lead to more damage if not managed properly.

A girl at our gym fractured the growth plate in her ankle. Apparently, this is a common problem in kids, as the growth plate is a vulnerable area. All she did was roll her ankle on a round off.

It's really hard to predict which children will get a growth plate injury. Kids active in sports overall are more vulnerable. 5 hours, 11 hours, 1 sport 2 sports etc, all are risk factors. Some kids have these issues and others never do, so who knows. What you do need to know is to pay attention to complaints of pain, the location and when it's more than just being sore. The biggest time that growth plate injuries occur is when your child hits a major growth spurt, it's not an exact age things as each kid grows at a different time.

My ds grew over 4 inches in one year (huge leap for him) and developed a growth plate injury that injury that year.

 

[Rapunzel]

That's a great link thank-you faith. And thanks for the info sce, I think we're far away from puberty but I'll keep that in mind.
The new sport could be a flash in the pan, its only been 2months. She's not going to set the world on fire with either gymnastics or her new sport, I can't see her moving up hours at gymnastics.
I'll keep an eye on any pain complaints and see how she goes.

 

[still hanging]

My DD had several growth pallet fractures. All were caused by some type action to cause the injury. Nothing to do with over use. Excited that she is nearly done growing, leaving me one less thing to worry about.

 

[my4buffaloes]

One thing I have noticed is that there are growth plates all over the body. it seems almost any injury I hear about is "near or in" the growth plate. So of course you are going to hear about it more.

 

[IreneKa]

The doctors are also very cautious about the growth plates injuries, that's another reason why you might hear about it a lot. My older DD (not gymmy) hurt her wrist figure skating. They did X-ray, didn't find anything, but the doc said that because the pain is at the growth plate location, they treat all such injuries as a fracture, and they put her in a cast for 4 weeks.

 

[Faith]

One thing I have noticed is that there are growth plates all over the body. it seems almost any injury I hear about is "near or in" the growth plate. So of course you are going to hear about it more.

The growth plates are at the end of every bone. Like Irene says, the reason you probably here about it more is it's far more serious. Damage the growth plate on end of a bone, and you may be looking at serious consequences such as the bone no longer growing. Damage anywhere else along the bone and it'll likely heal fine.