Why Some Young Athletes Handle a Big Training Load and Others Keep Getting Re-Injured
This pattern comes up often in young athletes: two kids start the same training schedule at the same age, and one copes easily while the other keeps getting injured. The difference usually isn’t talent — it’s what happened years earlier.
Building a Base Long Before It’s Needed
Some kids spend years doing a wide range of unstructured physical activity away from their main sport — riding bikes, running around, kicking a ball at the park, shooting hoops. This constant, varied movement builds a genuine base level of endurance and tissue resilience over time, without it ever being labelled as “training.” By the time these kids reach their early teens and step up into a more demanding schedule, their bodies have already been conditioned to handle regular physical load.
What Happens Without That Base
Other kids reach the same age having spent much more time indoors, without that years-long accumulation of general movement. When they then try to jump straight into a high-volume training schedule in their chosen sport, their bodies simply haven’t had the years of preparation the first group had. The tissues, joints, and general work capacity haven’t been built up gradually, even if current fitness looks similar on the surface.
Why This Shows Up as Constant Re-Injury
This is often exactly where we see young athletes stuck in a cycle of repeated injury. It’s rarely about a lack of effort or a single bad session — it’s a mismatch between the training load being asked of the body and the base that body has actually had time to build. Jumping straight to several high-intensity sessions a week without that underlying foundation is a common pathway to overuse injuries and setbacks that keep recurring.
Supporting Young Athletes as They Ramp Up
If a young athlete in your family keeps picking up the same injuries, or is stepping up into a heavier training schedule, it’s worth looking at their broader movement history, not just their current program. Our team at Spinewise in Maidstone works with young athletes to assess where the gaps might be and how to build training load more sustainably — call us on (03) 9318 7758 or book online.
Frequently Asked Questions
Unstructured, varied movement — riding bikes, running around, playing at the park, casual ball sports — rather than anything formally structured as training.
It’s not too late, but the training load usually needs to increase more gradually to give the body time to catch up, rather than jumping straight to a full high-volume schedule.
Not always, but it’s one of the most common and overlooked factors, particularly when a young athlete has had limited general movement background before specialising in one sport.
It’s worth having their overall movement history and current program assessed together, rather than judging load by age or sport alone — our team can help with this.
About the Author
Dr Trevor Chetcuti, B.Chiro.Sc, B.App.Sc (Clin), DIBAK, CNET
Dr Trevor Chetcuti is Clinical Director at Spinewise in Maidstone, holding dual degrees in Chiropractic and Clinical Science from RMIT University and a Teaching Diplomate in Applied Kinesiology through the International College of Applied Kinesiology (ICAK). He is chairman of ICAK International’s Board of Research and Standards and has spent over 20 years helping patients work through complex health, neurological and pain-related concerns.