Kids Sports Injuries
Kids Sports Injuries
Kids sports injuries can affect training, confidence, school life and weekend sport. This youth sports hub helps parents and young athletes recognise common injury patterns, identify warning signs and choose an appropriate next step.
Explore Youth Sports Injuries
Start with the area or injury pattern that best matches your child’s symptoms.
Kids Leg Pain
Explore common causes of hip, thigh, knee, shin, calf, ankle and heel pain in active children.
Kids Arm Pain
Review sport-related shoulder, elbow, forearm and wrist pain in children and teenagers.
Teenager Back Pain
Learn about back pain linked with sport, growth, repeated loading and daily activity.
Avulsion Fractures
Understand these growth-related injuries that can occur during sprinting, kicking and jumping.
Kids Sports Injuries: A Fast Parent Check
Movement
Stop or modify sport if pain causes limping, guarding, reduced speed or poor landing control.
Swelling
Arrange faster assessment when swelling appears rapidly after an injury or normal movement becomes difficult.
Growth
Growth plates and tendon attachment areas may become more sensitive during periods of rapid growth and increased sport load.
Return to sport
Build back gradually through age-appropriate strength, running, jumping, throwing or contact-sport progressions.
Why Are Kids Sports Injuries Different From Adult Injuries?
Children are not simply smaller adults. Their bones, muscles, tendons and coordination continue to change as they grow. Growth plates are developing areas near the ends of bones and may respond differently to sport loading than mature bone.
Children of the same age can also differ substantially in height, strength, coordination and physical maturity. These differences can become important during growth spurts, contact sport and sudden increases in training volume.
Because of this, an injury that appears similar to an adult sprain or muscle problem may sometimes involve a growth-related structure. Persistent or localised pain deserves assessment rather than being automatically dismissed as growing pains.
Should My Child Keep Playing Sport With Pain?
Mild discomfort that settles quickly and does not change movement may respond to a temporary reduction in training. However, continuing to play when pain causes limping, reduced speed, altered technique, poor landing control or loss of confidence is usually not appropriate.
A physiotherapist can assess the injury, identify movements and loads that reproduce symptoms and help plan a staged return. See sports injury physiotherapy for more information about assessment and rehabilitation.
When Does a Kids Sports Injury Need Faster Assessment?
What Are Common Kids Sports Injuries?
Growth-Related Knee Pain
Repeated running and jumping during a growth phase can irritate tendon attachment areas around the knee. Osgood-Schlatter disease affects the area below the kneecap at the top of the shin. Sinding-Larsen-Johansson syndrome affects the lower edge of the kneecap.
Heel Pain In Active Kids
Sever’s disease can cause heel pain during running and jumping, particularly during growth phases. Management commonly involves adjusting painful loading and gradually rebuilding the child’s capacity for sport.
Juvenile Osteochondritis Dissecans
Juvenile osteochondritis dissecans affects the joint surface and underlying bone. It can occur in areas such as the knee, ankle or elbow. Management depends on the location, symptoms and stability of the affected area.
Avulsion Fractures
Avulsion fractures occur when a strong muscle or tendon force pulls on a developing bony attachment. They may occur during sprinting, jumping or forceful kicking. Rehabilitation usually follows diagnosis and an appropriate period of protection before loading progresses. See also post-fracture physiotherapy.
Overuse And Training-Load Injuries
Some sports injuries build gradually rather than occurring in one moment. Symptoms may appear after a growth spurt, joining an additional team, tournament periods, finals, returning after holidays or increasing training faster than the body can adapt.
Reducing the aggravating load does not always mean complete rest. The goal is to find an activity level the child can tolerate while strength, movement control and sporting capacity are rebuilt.
Acute Sports Injuries
Falls, tackles, collisions, awkward landings and sudden changes of direction can cause acute injuries. For example, ankle swelling, bruising and instability may occur with a sprained ankle. A clear injury with marked pain, swelling or loss of function needs appropriate assessment.
How Can Parents And Coaches Reduce Sports Injury Risk?
No programme can prevent every sports injury. However, sensible preparation and recovery can help young athletes tolerate the demands of training and competition.
- Increase training gradually, particularly after illness, holidays or an injury break.
- Use a structured warm-up that includes running, balance, jumping, landing and direction-change tasks where appropriate.
- Build age-appropriate strength and movement control.
- Allow adequate sleep, recovery and lighter training periods.
- Avoid large, sudden increases in weekly training or competition load.
- Check that footwear and protective equipment still fit as the child grows.
- Watch for pain that changes running, jumping, kicking, throwing or normal movement.
What About Neck And Back Pain In Young Athletes?
Neck and back pain can occur during sport, growth and everyday activity. Persistent symptoms, pain after significant impact or pain that repeatedly limits sport should be assessed.
For more information, see teenager back pain. Younger children with lower-limb or referred symptoms can also start with our kids leg pain guide.
How Does a Physiotherapist Assess a Young Athlete?
The assessment depends on the injury and sport. It may include the painful area as well as walking, running, strength, balance, jumping, landing, throwing or other movements that matter for the child’s activity.
The physiotherapist will also consider how the injury started, recent changes in training, growth, previous injuries and symptoms that may need medical review or imaging.
When Can a Child Return to Sport?
Return-to-sport timing depends on the injury. A child should not return simply because a set number of days has passed or because pain has disappeared.
Useful progression signs can include comfortable daily activities, normal walking, improving movement and strength, better confidence and tolerance of gradually harder sport-specific tasks.
A staged rehabilitation plan may progress from basic movement and strength through to running, jumping, landing, speed, direction changes, throwing or contact where relevant.
What Should Parents Do Next?
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Reduce the activity that clearly increases pain
Temporarily modify running, jumping, kicking, throwing or other training that causes symptoms or changes normal movement.
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Watch normal function
Check walking, stairs, sleep, school activity and how the child moves later that day and the following morning.
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Record the pattern
Note the painful area, how the injury started, recent training changes, swelling, night symptoms and what makes the problem better or worse.
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Arrange an assessment when needed
Book when pain keeps returning, causes a limp, affects sport performance or confidence, or fails to improve after a reasonable reduction in aggravating activity.
For a recent sporting injury, you can also review the Acute Sports Injury Clinic.
Choose your clinic and appointment pathway
Select a PhysioWorks clinic to continue to live booking, an appointment request or reception assistance.
Kids Sports Injuries FAQs
What are the most common kids sports injuries?
Common problems include ankle sprains, muscle and tendon injuries, growth-related knee or heel pain, overuse injuries and fractures after falls, collisions or forceful sporting movements.
How do I know if my child’s sports injury is serious?
Arrange faster assessment for inability to bear weight, rapid or marked swelling, significant loss of movement, persistent night pain, deformity, numbness, increasing weakness or a child who appears unwell.
Should my child keep playing sport with pain?
Reduce or stop the aggravating activity when pain causes limping, altered technique, poor landing control, reduced speed or loss of confidence. A staged return is usually preferable to repeatedly playing through symptoms that change normal movement.
How can parents and coaches reduce kids sports injuries?
Useful strategies include gradual training increases, structured warm-ups, age-appropriate strength work, adequate recovery, well-fitting equipment and early attention to pain that changes normal sporting movement.
When should my child see a physiotherapist for a sports injury?
Consider an assessment when pain keeps returning, causes a limp, affects training or competition, reduces confidence, remains in one clear area or does not improve after reducing the aggravating activity.
Are growing pains the same as sports injuries?
No. Typical growing pains do not usually cause swelling, persistent limping or pain that repeatedly occurs during one specific sporting activity. Localised or recurring sport-related pain deserves a closer assessment.
References
- Brenner JS, Watson A; Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness. Overuse injuries, overtraining, and burnout in young athletes. Pediatrics. 2024;153(2):e2023065129. doi:10.1542/peds.2023-065129.
- Lutz D, et al. Best practices for dissemination and implementation of neuromuscular training injury prevention warm-ups in youth team sport: a systematic review. Br J Sports Med. 2024. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2023-106906.
- Li Y, Zhu W. The preventive effects of neuromuscular training on lower extremity sports injuries in adolescent and young athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Knee. 2025;56:373-385. doi:10.1016/j.knee.2025.06.008.
- Australian Sports Commission. Australian Concussion Guidelines for Youth and Community Sport. Australian Institute of Sport.
