18 Aug Wondering which sports is good for your child 🤔

The short answer is, whatever sports that your child would like to play. 😊 However, if your child is reluctant to play sports, or not confident in their balance and coordination, or have specific conditions like knee 😳 pain or back 😳 pain, then some sports may be better than others for your child. For example, football ⚽️ is great for coordination and bone density, swimming 🏊‍♀️ is great for strengthening the back and building lung capacity, while cycling 🚴‍♀️ is great for strengthening leg muscles with low impact on the knee joints.

What we do know is adolescence 🧑is the key period for bone development, and poor development at this stage is linked to reduced peak bone mass at 30 years old, increased fracture risk and osteoporosis later in life. 😳

So activities that are weight bearing, high impact and high intensity like tennis, 🎾football,⚽️ basketball 🏀 and netball are great for building bone density.

In a recent study comparing adolescent footballers ⚽️to swimmers,🏊‍♀️ cyclists 🚴‍♀️ and a control group of boys not involved in regular sport, scientists at the University of Exeter found football led to significantly better bones after one year of training. Though swimming and cycling have proven health benefits, the scientists said their study “raises a question” 🤔about whether they are good for bone development due to the non-weight bearing training – and they say young swimmers and cyclists could benefit from more weight-bearing 🏋️‍♀️exercise in training regimes.

So the important take home message is that is it beneficial to encourage variety in sports for your child, because each sport will provide different physical benefits for your child. 😊

If your child is refusing to participate in sports or has difficulty with coordination and balance, ring My Favourite Physio 📱on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists today.

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