Hi guys. I have a question for the experts. My son is a very active, athletic 8.5 year old. He has a passion for sports and seems to be tireless when it comes to them! In his spare time all he does is practice his shot in the backyard or inline skate or play catch.
However, recently he has been experiencing sore muscles in his leg and even seemed to have pulled something in his abdomen. Although these always seem to get better within a few days it seems to be happening more often. Could it be growing pains or a muscle pull? Or is he doing too much? It is really all he wants to do pretty much all of the time so he doesn’t seem to be pushing himself or tired.
Any suggestions or advice?
Hi Jen,
Some great advise from Andrea on the exercise front, warming up properly and cooling down properly (including stretching) is crucial for any exerciser. However, sore muscles are often something to be expected when you exercise hard, it is almost part of the conditioning process and is due to microscopic tearing of muscle fibers (which get stronger once they heal). The pain usually peaks about 24-48 hours after exercise. To ease the pain you may try icing the areas first and then adding heat once the pain has peaked. This will improve circulation and shorten the timespan of the pain.
This happens to my son a lot in the spring each year. I found that he was using different muscles and much more active. Although he did a lot of sports in the winter he wasn’t running around playing in his “off” time like he was in the spring.
Hi Jen
Amazing question..
It is around this age that active to athletic kids will start to experience delayed onset muscle soreness known as (DOMS). As somebody who was a competitive athlete as a child I know it all too well. My own 9 year old who plays league basketball and is currently doing track has begun to notice this.
A few things:
Now more than ever proper nutrition is needed to deal with your childs growth needs in combination with thier recovery cycles. Recovery cycles in children tend to be a day( or so) and in adults they may last a little longer. It is important to observe that your child is recovering. In addition make sure that your child sports programs are adhereing to proper warm up protocols. This should include raising core body temperature with an endurance activity like running or skipping followed by an active stretch. The odd pulled muscle in a child should not be a major concern but if you find it happening frequently it is likely due to improper exercise preperation. I would suggust also that you encourage your child to do this on their own as well. If he plans to do repetitive motion like practising a shot for hours warm ups are important. Its actually really easy to get an eager kid like your son to do this by encouraging him to watch the warm ups of the pros. He will likely want to model them. Here is an example link and together you guys could search for more!
http://www.expertvillage.com/video/23764_basketball-shots-three.htm