Lower Body Injury Prevention Tips
With increased sports specialization, as well as year-round sport participation and structured activities, children and teens today are more likely to get injured. Injury prevention is an effort to prevent or reduce the severity of injuries through proper training, conditioning and the instruction of healthy guidelines. With proper training and conditioning, the risks of injury will be reduced while also improving sports performance.
Most lower body injuries in sports happen because of contact- or non-contact-related trauma, poor body mechanics, or overuse. By knowing the root cause of a lower body injury, we can determine how to best prevent it and help protect your child’s or teen’s growing bones, ligaments and tendons.
Kids and teens are at a higher risk of a lower body injury because of:
- Slower reaction times
- Varying height and weight
- Less coordination
- High-intensity sports
- Over-training
- Stress and burnout
- Puberty
- Overuse
Keep your child in the game by applying some of these simple injury prevention pointers.
Prevention is key—and possible—if you’re trying to keep your growing athlete healthy and safe while he is playing sports. Our pediatric orthopedic and sports medicine specialists at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta have created the following recommendations to help prevent and protect your child from lower body injuries:
- Schedule your child for an annual physical evaluation before participating in sports.
- Schedule a sports motion analysis to have your child’s mechanics analyzed. By using the proper technique, growing athletes can lower the risk of injury and help improve performance.
- Encourage your child to warm up properly before an activity by engaging in low-impact exercises like jogging in place and stretching tight muscles.
- Make sure training is increased gradually. Don’t increase training frequency (activity levels) and intensity (weight, mileage or pace) by more than 10% each week.
- Have your child take at least one day off each week from an organized activity. He should also take at least three months off during the year (in one-month increments) between sports.
- Encourage your child to try a variety of sports. Young athletes who play the same sport year-round are more likely than others to experience overuse injuries.
- Have your child wear proper-fitting sports equipment and protective gear, such as running shoes and helmets.
- Be aware that overuse injuries can occur in practice as well as during games.
- To avoid repeat injuries, don’t let your child return to play until you know what caused the injury and the injury has had proper time to heal.
There are a variety of exercises that growing athletes can do to help them warm up before participating in a practice or competition, as well as try at home, to help build strength, agility and flexibility.
Warming up can help increase your teen athlete’s body temperature and blood flow to his muscles to prepare him for exercise. Dynamic and static stretching help increase flexibility and make sure all primary muscles are used during an exercise session so that he is prepared for the demands of training. Static stretching should follow the dynamic warmup to decrease the risk of injury.
Have your athlete complete each of the eight dynamic warmup exercises below over a certain distance (such as up and down a hallway) or for a certain length of time (such as one minute).
Warmup Exercises to Help Prepare Your Teen's Muscles for Exercise
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High knees
Stand tall on the balls of your feet with your feet hip-width apart. Jog forward, taking short, quick steps and driving your knees up past your hips. Keep your chest up, pump your arms, and land on the balls of your feet.
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Butt kicks
Stand tall on the balls of your feet with your feet hip-width apart. Jog forward and rapidly kick your heels upward to the buttocks. Keep your chest up, and land on the balls of your feet.
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Side shuffles
Stand on the balls of your feet with your feet hip-width apart. Shuffle to the side by bringing one foot over to the other without touching or crossing each other. Keep your hips and toes facing ahead. Facing the same direction, return to the starting position by shuffling in the opposite direction.
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Carioca
Stand with your feet hip-width apart and toes pointing forward. Cross your right foot in front of your left foot, and step to plant your feet. Then, step your left foot from behind your right foot, and replant your feet in the starting position. Next, cross your right foot behind your left foot, and step to plant your feet. Then, step your left foot in front of your right foot, and replant your feet in the starting position.
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Bounding
Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Push off the ground with one foot, thrusting both hips forward and driving the opposite leg’s knee up. After the knee has reached maximum height, reach out with the leg to land on the heel of the foot. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Ins and outs
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and your shoulders and hips facing forward. Bring one leg up across your body, bending your knee and swinging your leg out as far as you can to the side, allowing your hips to pivot. Repeat with your other leg. Next, bring one leg up to the side of your body, bending your knee and swinging your leg across your body as far as you can, allowing your hips to pivot. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Frankensteins
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart and arms up at shoulder height. Step forward with one foot, and kick the opposite leg straight up without bending your knees or leaning backward. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Inchworm
From the plank position, slowly walk both feet forward, taking small steps and keeping your knees straight until you feel a stretch in your hamstrings. Walk your hands back out to a plank.
Stretching properly can help reduce muscle injuries, improve performance on the field and increase an athlete’s flexibility. This is important because flexibility improves mobility, posture and muscle coordination, and it can help reduce the risk of injury or muscle soreness. The five static stretches below can help improve a child’s or teen’s flexibility. Hold each stretch for 30 seconds, and repeat three times on each side.
Static Stretches to Help Improve Your Athlete's Flexibility
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Quadriceps
While standing, grab slightly above your ankle with the same-side hand, and gently pull your foot up toward the buttock until you feel a stretch in the front of your thigh. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Iliotibial (IT) band
While standing, cross one leg behind the other. Slowly lean your upper body toward the side of the back foot until you feel a stretch in the outside of your upper thigh. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Hip flexor
In a half-kneeling position with your right knee on the ground and left knee bent with the foot flat on the floor, gently press both hips forward until you feel a stretch in the front of your right thigh. Keep your chest up and your back straight. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Hamstring
While seated on the ground, straighten your right leg and bend the left leg, placing the sole of your foot on the inner thigh. Slide both hands down your right leg toward your foot, bending forward at the waist until you feel a stretch in the back of your right leg. Keep your chest tall and your back straight. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Piriformis
Lying on your back with both knees bent, cross your left ankle over the thigh of your right leg, just above the knee. With both hands, grab under the bend of the knee that the ankle is crossed over and gently pull your knee toward your chest until a stretch is felt near the buttock. Repeat on the opposite side.
Strength is the foundation for power, speed and agility and is essential for control, which helps prevent injury in unstable and chaotic game conditions. Strength gains will also help improve the ability to execute explosive and multidirectional movements. The 13 videos below are helpful in showing your young athlete how to build strength.
Practice each exercise for a set number of repetitions (eight to 10 reps), a set distance (20 yards) or a set amount of time (one minute).
Strength Exercises to Help Teen Athletes
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Burpees
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Lower your body into a squat, and place your hands shoulder-width apart on the floor in front of you. Kick your feet back into a pushup position and complete a pushup. Keeping your hands on the floor, pull your feet and legs back up to a squat. Quickly stand up, and then jump up as high as you can, making sure to land with your knees slightly bent.
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Mountain climbers
In a pushup, bend one knee toward your chest. Quickly switch your leg positions, landing on both feet at the same time. Make sure you are keeping your upper body still, back flat and buttocks down. Repeat as quickly as possible.
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Plank row
Start in a plank on your hands. Pull one hand up to your chest while balancing on the other hand. Pause slightly at the top. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Plank up
Start in a plank on your forearms. Move your body up to a pushup on your hands. Lower yourself back down to return to a plank on your forearms. Repeat the exercise using the opposite arm to raise and lower your body.
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Star plank
Start in a plank on your hands. Push off the ground with one arm, and rotate your body into a side plank with your feet, hips and shoulders stacked. Reach your top hand toward the ceiling, and lift the top leg up toward the ceiling with your toes facing forward. Slowly return to a plank. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Bicycle crunches
Lie on your back and bend your knees perpendicular to the floor while supporting your head in your hands. Lift your head and shoulders off the ground into a crunch. Slowly bring one knee across the body and rotate your upper body, touching the opposite elbow to the opposite knee in a twisting motion while straightening and lowering the other leg at the same time. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Toe-touch crunches
Lie on your back with your legs straight up at a 90-degree angle and knees slightly bent. Raise your head and shoulders off the ground into a crunch. Reach for your toes with both hands, and then return to a crunch, keeping your head and shoulders off the ground.
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Multidirectional lunges
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Step forward into a lunge at the 12 o’clock position, keeping your chest up tall and both knees bent at 90 degrees. Push backward with your front leg to return to the starting position. Lunge again in the 2, 3, 4 and 6 o’clock positions. Repeat on the opposite side.
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Walking lunges
Stand tall with your feet hip-width apart. Take a controlled step forward. Lower both hips to the floor by bending both knees to about a 90-degree angle. Push forward off your back foot to place it even with your front foot. Then, step forward with the opposite foot.
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Monster walks
Put a resistance band slightly above both knees, and stand with your feet hip-width apart. Bend both knees in a mini squat. Step to the side with one foot as far as possible, placing tension on the band and keeping the toes facing straight ahead. Step your trailing foot toward the leading foot, keeping tension on the band at all times. Face the same direction when returning back to the starting point by stepping in the opposite direction so that your leading foot becomes your trailing foot.
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Resisted walking
Place resistance tubing around your waist. Your partner should hold the ends securely. Slowly walk forward against the resistance in a mini squat. Return slowly to the starting position, stepping backward in a controlled manner. Repeat to the side and back.
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Hamstring curls with ball
Lie on your back. Place your heels on top of an exercise ball. Keep your arms at your sides for balance. Bridge off the floor by pushing up through your heels so that your hips are in line with your knees and shoulders. From this position, pull the ball back toward your buttocks by bending your knees, keeping your hips in line with your knees and shoulders. Return to the starting position, keeping your buttocks up off the floor.
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Russian hamstring
Kneel on the ground with your arms crossed over your chest. Secure your feet. Leading with your hips, slowly lower your torso while keeping your body in a straight line. Use your hamstrings to return to the starting position.
Agility is the ability to change the direction of the body without losing speed, strength, balance or body control. Strong emphasis is placed on proper technique during planting, cutting, landing, starting and stopping drills. Not only will these exercises improve overall athletic performance, but they also will help guard against injury and delay the onset of fatigue, which will allow the athlete to perform safely during practice and games. The five videos below give examples of exercises performed with an agility ladder that can help improve your athlete’s agility.
Practice each exercise for a set number of repetitions (four times down and back) or a set amount of time (one to two minutes per exercise).
Agility Exercises to Help Improve Overall Athletic Performance Using an Agility Ladder
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Two in, two out
Using an agility ladder, stay on the balls of your feet and follow an in-in, out-out pattern with your feet. These exercises can be performed traveling forward and sideways through the ladder.
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Double leg hops
Hop with both feet landing together into each square of an agility ladder. Land softly with your knees slightly bent. This can be performed traveling forward and sideways through the ladder.
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Ickey shuffle
Using an agility ladder, stay on the balls of your feet and follow a three-count pattern with your feet, stepping in, out and up through the ladder. Move forward to the next box until you reach the end.
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Single leg hops
Hop on one foot, landing in each square of an agility ladder. Land softly with your knees slightly bent. This can be performed traveling forward and sideways through the ladder.
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Skip a square
Hop with both feet landing together in every other square of an agility ladder. Land softly with your knees slightly bent. These exercises can be performed traveling forward and sideways through the ladder.
Plyometric exercises enable a muscle to reach its full potential in the shortest amount of time. They do so by using a quick stretch reflex to produce maximal muscle contraction. This training will teach athletes control of the muscles surrounding the knee during landing, which will decrease the landing forces on the joint and protect it from injury. The four videos below are examples of plyometric exercises your child can try at home.
Practice each exercise for a set number of repetitions (eight to 10 reps) or a set amount of time (30 seconds per exercise).
Examples of Plyometric Exercises for Teen Athletes
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Squat jumps
Start in a squat with your feet hip-width apart and arms at your sides. Jump straight up, fully extending your arms and legs. Land softly on your toes with your knees bent, returning to a squat. Do not let your knees touch during takeoff or landing.
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Tuck jumps
Start by standing on the balls of your feet with your feet hip-width apart. Jump straight up, bending your knees and bringing your thighs up toward your chest, keeping your chest tall. Land softly on your toes with your knees bent. Do not let your knees touch during takeoff or landing.
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Lateral jumps
Start by standing on the balls of your feet with your feet hip-width apart. Jump straight up, bending your knees and bringing your thighs up toward your chest, keeping your chest tall. Land softly on your toes with your knees bent. Do not let your knees touch during takeoff or landing.
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Scissor jumps
Start in a forward lunge with both knees bent to 90 degrees. Push up off of the ground with both feet, switching the position of your legs in the air so that your front foot becomes your back foot. Stay on the balls of your feet, landing softly in a lunge without letting your knees touch the ground.
Injury Prevention Resources
This content is general information and is not specific medical advice. Always consult with a doctor or healthcare provider if you have any questions or concerns about the health of a child. In case of an urgent concern or emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department right away. Some physicians and affiliated healthcare professionals on the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta team are independent providers and are not our employees.
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