exercises

Kids lifting weights

Weights training for your kids; 7 things you should know

Weights training for your kids; 7 things you should know 838 559 Ace Health Centre

If you ask around whether children should exercise with weights, you hear all sorts of answers. It’s safe to say the public is divided. Some say working out with weights too early causes pre-mature bone fusion (epiphyseal fusion), and, as a result, irreversibly stunt growth. While others say it is totally safe for kids to lift some (light) weights.

Ultimately, our physiotherapists aren’t here to tell what side you should be rooting for, but we are here to debunk some myths regarding weight training for children.

 

Weights training does stunt growth

This myth, somehow, is still floating around out there. Scientific evidence indicates that resistance training results in increased serum IGF-I (a biomarker that correlates with bone growth) and that there is no detrimental effect on linear growth (Falk & Eliakim, 2003), There is absolutely no reasonable evidence that points to it being bad for growing bodies.

 

Weights training is dangerous

With quality supervision and an effectively designed program, the rates of injury in weights training are actually very low. And under supervision, kids of all ages can participate. When put next to other popular youth sports, lifting weights had an injury rate of 1 injury every 2850 hours of training, whereas rugby, for example, had an injury rate of 1 injury every 125 hours (Hamill, 1994).

 

lifting weights is boring

Weights (or Resistance) Training is a physical conditioning program that involves various training techniques that progressively increase resistive loads. It can include machines, free weights, plyometrics, body weight, and functional training. It can focus on improving muscle strength, increasing power or muscle bulk, enhancing endurance or a combination of any or all of these, and can be very sports-specific.

 

Heavy lifting doesn’t support weight-loss

Quite the opposite is actually true. In certain body types, weights training can be the key to weight loss. A 2018 report compiled by Active Healthy Kids Australia found that Australian kids are some of the least active in the world, ranking 32nd out of 49 countries. The report gave Australia a D minus for physical activity for the third year in a row.

One Queensland tailor reported being commissioned to make a 9XL pair of school shorts for a waist >150cm. Four out of five primary school-aged children don’t meet the minimum requirements of an hour of moderate to vigorous physical activity each day; even fewer are doing strength or weight-based activities.

Certain body shapes may respond better to heavier load resistance training than long slow distance training. If your child finds it challenging to keep up with other kids with cardio-based exercise (running, cycling, swimming etc) then putting them in an environment where they can dominate is an excellent way to build their confidence and self-esteem, all while getting a serious sweat up!

Based on our experience, big framed (aka big boned) folks, including kids, tend to be the strongest and best at lifting.  And boy do their bodies respond to it when they start training! Don’t be fooled though, leaning the body out through weight training takes time and effort and diligence. You’ve got to keep things going for months on end. Stay motivated!

 

Weight training leads to injuries

Again, quite the opposite is true. Weights training is essential for injury prevention in young athletes. If your son or daughter keeps breaking down physically, or even if you just want to keep them on the park/court/arena/apparatus/dancefloor for the whole season then weights training is a must.

Putting weighted loads through the body in different ways (pushing, pulling, squatting, etc.) helps increase the tolerance to pressures that they’ll face in their sporting lives. A study in 2015 put junior elite soccer players through a 10-week in-season training program and concluded that the program “led to a reduction in muscle-injury incidence and severity and showed improvements in common soccer tasks such as jumping ability and linear-sprinting speed” (De Hoyo et al., 2015)

 

Lifting weights only puts on mass

If you think weight lifting turns your kid into a big massive piece of rock, then think again! Weights training actually impacts brain growth and development.

A European study found that children who are physically fit have a greater volume of grey matter in the brain. This is important for executive function, learning, motor skills, and visual processing.
(Esteban-Cornejo et al. 2017)

 

Weights training is No FUN!

Don’t knock it till you try it! See a professional (ideally a physiotherapist or exercise physiologist) A healthier life often starts with lifting weights.

Whiplash-Associated-Syndrome

Whiplash Associated Disorder: What a pain in the neck

Whiplash Associated Disorder: What a pain in the neck 1000 682 Ace Health Centre

About 7 and a half years ago I had a car crash. I pulled a U-turn outside my house in the quiet suburb of Figtree in Wollongong, NSW and was struck on the front drivers’ panel by a car that I guessed was doing about 90km/hr. Unfortunately, I was deemed at fault (the Police effectively said that they weren’t able to prove he was speeding because there were no skid marks – my argument was that he didn’t have time to brake because he was going so fast – but I digress). Fortunately, the other driver did swerve because otherwise, he would have T-boned me and chances are I wouldn’t be here writing this. For that, I consider myself incredibly lucky.

However, despite all the fortune, I do consider myself also slightly unluckier than some, and that is due to the daily pain and discomfort on the left side of my neck (Whiplash) that accompanies me everywhere I go. It is here right now as I write this (somewhat stronger now that I’m focusing on it).

Don’t get me wrong, I manage absolutely fine now, but I recall it being quite bad in the first few months. However, I did the right thing initially and booked in for a Physio consult.

 

I didn’t go back to see my Physio, and I didn’t do the exercises.

I saw a local physio about a week after the accident whom I believe – knowing what I know now – actually let me down, and he let the physiotherapy profession down.

From memory he did some massage, might have put a heat pack on and then prescribed me a weird neck exercise on all 4’s (speaking as an undergraduate exercise science student at the time) and told me to “see how I go” and call if I wasn’t getting better.

I wondered if he actually did want to see me again? Did he care if I was doing better? Maybe he was thinking of my back pocket being a student – but I certainly wasn’t.

I just wanted my neck to feel better. I didn’t go back…

 

 

Without a proper diagnosis – I felt confused

I was a young, fit, virile male who just turned 20 and I did not want to do some strange looking exercise that didn’t even bring on a sweat. All I wanted was to push and pull and throw and lift and sweat!

I grew up playing sports and running. I feared that I wouldn’t get back to those things. Mentally at the time, my ego-driven immortality shroud (seen predominantly in males under the age of 25 due to a still-developing pre-frontal cortex) had been shattered.

Also, mentally, I was having nightmares and was anxious about driving. two major things we did not talk about in my physio consult.

I guess I existed in a state of confusion about my pain for about six months, until one day during a practical class in the final year of my Exercise Physiology degree at the University of Wollongong. We covered exercises for neck and shoulder dysfunction, and I was the example patient for my classmates.

I remember my fellow students prescribing me these basic, boring textbook exercises until our musculoskeletal lecturer Deidre McGhee (a practicing physiotherapist) stepped in to ask them to think about who they are working on.

In doing so she reminded me too. She gave me exactly what I needed at the time. Permission and empowerment. Two very major things in chronic pain.

Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD)

I then took a particular interest in chronic pain when I went to study my Masters of Physiotherapy at Griffith University. Now into my 5th year of clinical practice, I have developed my clinical skills to a point where I can now focus on a particular area of interest. For me? You might have guessed – Whiplash Associated Disorder (WAD).

 

There are some pretty alarming statistics out there – here’s just a few:

  • Whiplash doesn’t tend to recover well – if there is still pain at 3 months after the accident, there is a 50% chance there will be ongoing pain 5 years later.

 

  • After an accident, if you can’t turn your head as far as you used to, or you find cold stimuli painful, your risk of long term disability is much higher. This risk remains high if you have severe pain, or are having trouble doing everyday tasks (reading, lifting, concentrating, working etc).

 

  • After an accident, if you can’t turn your head as far as you used to, or you find cold stimuli painful, your risk of long term disability is much higher. This risk remains high if you have severe pain, or are having trouble doing everyday tasks (reading, lifting, concentrating, working etc).

 

  • High levels of post-traumatic stress go hand in hand with poor recovery.

 

Whiplash recovery needs a systematic approach

If you have any of these things and you’re within the first month or two after your accident, the timing is crucial to reduce your risk of pain becoming chronic and disabling.

Either see a physiotherapist or talk to your GP about seeing a physio (and a psychologist if you’re having flashbacks or anxiety). CTP insurance covers nearly all cases of Whiplash recovery and treatment.

 

Though please, in a bid to avoid the situation I found myself in, see if you can find someone who has done some advanced training in Whiplash Associated Disorder within the last 2-3 years.

Learning from the physio I saw, in my professional life, I tend to listen to the person in front of me and ask many questions. It allows me to focus on the needs and goals of the person that is sitting in front of me and then applying the most recent evidence to assist them to achieve those goals.

For those that are past the initial few months since their accident, there is still hope of reducing your overall pain and disability. I have seen significant improvement in people using any necessary manual therapy, some tweaks to their daily life, and an increase in their exercise and activity safely under supervision.

It’s amazing the difference in your life when you find the person who knows exactly what you need at the time.