Women's Football Hub

Editor Carolyn Kent – Women’s Football Hub

🎙️ Episode Overview:

In this episode of the Women’s Football Hub podcast, host Carolyn Kent sits down with Angela Jackson, a consultant physiotherapist with a wealth of experience in youth sport injuries. Angela has worked as a strength and conditioning consultant for Cheshire Cricket Board and runs kidsback2sport.com, an invaluable resource for managing young athletes’ injuries. Together, they discuss the challenges of growth, maturation, injury prevention, and rehabilitation in young female footballers.

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🔑 Key Takeaways:

1️⃣ Growth and Maturation in Young Female Athletes

• Growth spurts happen at different times for each child, with girls typically experiencing them around age 11—two years earlier than boys.
• Skeletal age differences in a single football team can range five to six years, meaning some players may be at a higher risk of injury simply due to their stage of development.
• Young female athletes experiencing rapid growth may struggle with coordination and increased risk of overuse injuries.

2️⃣ Why Do Young Athletes Get Injuries?

• Apophysitis (growth plate injuries) are common in youth footballers due to muscle imbalances and rapid growth.
• Girls tend to experience knee pain differently from boys—patella tendon irritation (Sinding Larsen Johansson) rather than the well-known Osgood Schlatter’s disease seen more in boys.
• Training history matters—doing too much too soon can lead to increased injury risk, particularly in the third week of September, January, and summer term when training loads spike.

3️⃣ Managing Youth Injuries: Rest Is NOT the Only Solution

• A common misconception is that rest is the best cure for youth injuries—Angela warns that complete rest lowers capacity, making athletes more prone to injury when they return.
• Instead, activity modification is key: reducing intensity but allowing participation in lower-impact drills.
• Using emoji-based pain scales and effort ratings helps kids understand and communicate their pain levels effectively.

4️⃣ Spotting Injury Risk & Prevention Strategies

• Key warning signs include increased fatigue, irritability, loss of motivation, recurrent sore throats (a sign of overtraining), and, in girls, irregular or missing periods.
• Training load should be managed carefully, ensuring girls aren’t doing excessive high-intensity sessions back-to-back.
• Coaches and parents should look out for signs of overuse injuries, including pinpoint tenderness at muscle attachment sites and subtle limping.

5️⃣ Effective Communication with Young Athletes

• Children may not express pain in the same way adults do—Angela emphasises the importance of asking the right questions and avoiding traditional pain scales.
• Encouraging children to explain their injuries in their own words ensures they understand their condition and can confidently communicate with coaches.
• Giving young athletes a voice in their own rehab keeps them engaged and committed to their recovery.

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📢 Final Thoughts & Resources:

• Young athletes are NOT just small adults—their bodies have different needs, and their injuries should be managed with youth-specific expertise.
• Visit kidsback2sport.com for free resources on youth injury management.
• Coaches and parents should prioritise gradual load progression and ensure young female footballers get adequate rest and nutrition to support their training.

🎧 Listen to the full episode now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
📢 Join the conversation! Have you seen these injury patterns in your team? Let us know in the comments!

This podcast breakdown was created with assistance from OpenAI’s ChatGPT (OpenAI, 2025).

#WFHPodcast #WomensFootball #YouthInjuries #FootballPhysio