19 Dec 🥺Is your child constantly watching other children from the sidelines 😬Does your child struggle to keep up with other children when playing sports leading to them giving up on sports completely

If you are answered yes to the above statements then you are not alone. The common assumption for children not wanting to participate in sports is that they are “lazy” or “addicted to gaming”. With Australian research showing in 2017–18, that 24.9% of children aged 2 to 17 years were living with overweight (16.7%) or obesity (8.2%), we cannot sit back and accept the assumption that our children do not want to be active.

As Paediatric Physiotherapists, we often see children coming in with their families, because a child is complaining of knee, ankle or foot pain. Recently, we met 11 year old Master J 🧒who was complaining of recurrent ankle pain which caused him to stop all sporting activities. As a result, he gained weight and is now struggling to participate in any form of physical activity. On assessment, Master J was overweight for his age and height, he complained of ankle and heel pain. Master J also tended to walk on his toes which resulted in him having tight calf muscles. Master J used to play basketball 3 times a week, until he started having ankle pain and struggling to jump to shoot hoops. Over time, he started to dislike attending basketball practice and soon stopped altogether. Over 6 months, he started to gain a lot of weight as he spent more time gaming on the console.

To break the cycle of injury and inactivity, we focused on first reducing swelling and inflammation with Low Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound, releasing the muscle tightness in his calf with Radial Shockwave Therapy and Serial Casting. Then increasing core strength, calf muscle strength, balance, coordination and agility to help him get back to fitness to play basketball again.

Over a period of 12 weeks, Master J returned to playing basketball regularly without re-injury. ⛹️‍♂️

So if you are concerned about your child’s gross motor skills, reach out to My Favourite Physio on (02) 9790 4233 or DM us @myfavouritephysio to speak to one of our Expert Paediatric Physiotherapists 🤓today