20 Jan HEAL Growing Pains in Girls Soccer Players: Knee Pain, Osgood-Schlatter, and Tendinitis
I’m going to get right to the point: knee pain can only be resolved with 3 things.
No, it’s not using a bag of ice after every practice.
No, it’s not slapping on some KT tape.
No, it’s definitely not pushing through MORE SOCCER.
Oddly enough, the activity that causes the knee pain to get worse is playing more soccer, yet girls still continue to play full minutes.
To solve knee pain in growing girls soccer players once and for all, here are the 3 things you must do:
1. Do a consistent strength training program. A lot of young girls soccer players lack hamstring, calf, quad, and glute strength, and when these muscles are weak, all of the forces in the game of soccer – from the hundreds of sprints and cuts – go directly to the knee.
However, when the muscles surrounding the knee are strong, the muscles take on the load and are protective of the knee!
Make sure girls are doing the main strength movements to strengthen the hamstrings and glutes, like hip bridge variations, band walks then side plank variations, hamstring curls, single leg RDLs and hex bar deadlifts.
Quadriceps strengthening is a little bit more nuanced when it comes to knee pain. Exercises such as squats, lunges, and split squats could aggravate the pain more since the joint is bending.
Most girls are better off sticking to isometric quad strengthening exercises like wall sits, Spanish squats, or lunge holds to avoid extra stress on the knee. Then, when they build up tolerance, they can slowly add in concentric and eccentric movements.
Backward sled drags have also been excellent for building quad strength capacity even more, while having minimal stress on the knee joint.
I also like to do foam rolling and quad stretches at the end of each session for girls with knee pain to provide extra relief on the patella tendon.
It’s important they do a program for knee pain under the guidance of a certified professional who has a background in youth female athlete strength training. Too, the coach must know how to pick the correct exercises and progressions based on the girl’s age and training history. If strength is done wrong, the knee can flare up more, so exercise selection is critical.
My rule with knee pain in the gym is simple: I don’t do any exercises that cause pain!
2. Reduce soccer practice and game minutes. This is the hardest step for girls to do, but it is the most critical in alleviating knee pain. Osgood-schlatter and tendinitis are loading and overuse injuries from high impact, repetitive movements in soccer like sprinting, cutting, and jumping. If pain is higher than a 3/10, girls must reduce minutes played to see how they respond. This could mean just sitting out 10 minutes at the end of each practice, and then slowly build up to a tolerable amount of load again. If she feels good, then slowly increase load each week no more than 10%.
If pain greater than a 6/10 and it’s impacting her sprinting, or she’s limping around the field, then that’s a FULL STOP for her to not play for a bit and let the inflammation calm, and for her to put all her focus in a strength program.
Most important, when the pain does calm down, this does not mean go back to sport full force. If she does this, the pain will come roaring back because her joint isn’t used to the amount of soccer stress. After a lot of time off, the muscles and tendons need time to adjust to the high speed movements in soccer again.
With that said, she must slowly build back in practice and game minutes each week. If you don’t do this, it becomes a rest and bust cycle that could last months.
CONTACT OR TRAIN WITH ME for proper load progression HERE.
3. ELITE Recovery
Elite recovery isn’t massages, ice packs, and theraguns.
Rather, it’s fueling the body with proper nutrients to support muscle repair and growth, joint integrity, and tendon health. This means getting adequate healthy fats, protein, and carbs at each meal, and as an added bonus, vitamin C + collagen added to a smoothie or shake.
If a girl is not getting enough energy from food, her body is in a constant state of breakdown and is much more susceptible to lingering pains and inability to tolerate soccer load. Too, if she is not sleeping 8 hours or more a night, muscles are not recovering optimally. Poor recovery = high injury risk.
Elite recovery is also making sure blood is FLOWING to the muscles. This is why I’m against cold therapy for recovery. Girls need blood flow and circulation so the quad doesn’t tighten more and cause MORE stress on the patella tendon.
I use the Firefly Recovery Device and swear by it for optimal blood flow for faster recovery and less soreness. It’s just two straps that go below the knee that girls should wear for an hour after all practices and games. (get it HERE)
Fun fact: Firefly was on the TV series Shark Tank!
Do these 3 things and your girls soccer player will get over knee pain FAST:
1. Strength training with a professional
2. Reducing or stopping soccer load (if needed)
3. Fueling with proper nutrition, sleep and increasing blood flow to the muscles
If you don’t do these, then don’t be surprised if she suffers through the pain for many months, if not years. Overuse and growing injuries must be treated properly with a holistic, individualized approach.
An ice bag will not save her if her muscles are still weak around the knee and she isn’t resilient enough to handle soccer loads.
Do the right thing.
No girl should push through pain.
No girl should be weak.
No girl should have to deal with this for long.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erica Mulholland is a former college 3x All-American soccer player and now Hall of Famer from Johns Hopkins University. She holds a Master of Science in Exercise Science and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Coach, who has been helping female athletes of all sports with speed, agility, strength, power, and conditioning for 14 years. She works with youth female athletes who want to become stronger and faster, as well as ACL and meniscus surgery rehab for female athletes in the later stages (over 3 month mark post-surgery) who want to return to sport better than they were prior to injury.
Work with Erica in Tampa and Lutz Florida for speed, agility, and strength training, OR late stage ACL rehab (must be at minimum 3 months into physical therapy and post-surgery): BOOK ASSESSMENT HERE
Interested in REMOTE TRAINING for Female Athletes? BOOK A CONSULT HERE
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