This isn't sport-specific. The same pattern shows up in football, gymnastics, track and field, trampoline, skiing, and almost any sport where young bodies are being asked to perform.

We tend to treat growth spurts as something kids grow out of. They get taller, become a bit clumsier for a while, and eventually settle down. But a growing body of research points to this period as one of the highest-risk windows in a young athlete's development.

What's Actually Happening During a Growth Spurt?

During adolescence there's a period, usually lasting around a year, where growth accelerates more rapidly than at any other time. Bones lengthen quickly, but muscles, tendons, and ligaments don't always keep pace. Combine that with temporary changes in coordination, and you've got a body that's bigger and stronger on paper, but less coordinated and more vulnerable to injury than it was six months ago.

How Do You Measure It Without an X-Ray?

You don't need medical imaging to estimate where a young athlete sits in their growth journey. One of the most widely used tools is the Khamis-Roche method. In simple terms, you record the athlete's current height, weight, and age, along with the heights of both parents. The equation predicts adult height, and comparing current height to predicted adult height gives you a percentage of maturity.

Remember that this is an estimate, not a diagnosis. Most predictions are within a few centimetres, but some can be further off. A single result should be viewed as a guide rather than the final word. Repeated measurements over time are far more informative than any single snapshot.

What the Research Shows

Across multiple studies, the clearest finding is that injury risk peaks during the middle of the growth spurt. The high-risk window has specific markers.

Pain Location Travels Up the Body

Where pain shows up isn't random. As growth progresses, the location of complaints shifts predictably up the body, roughly following the direction of the growth wave itself.

Rate of Growth Matters, Not Just the Window

How fast the growing happens turns out to be as important as when it happens. Young athletes growing rapidly before and during peak height velocity experience meaningfully more injuries than peers growing at a more typical pace.

This Isn't Just a Football Finding

The same pattern shows up across sports. Different sports produce different injuries. The underlying biology is remarkably consistent.

Track and field research has linked rapid growth, particularly rapid leg growth, to a substantially higher risk of bone and growth-plate injuries. Trampoline gymnastics shows the same spike around peak growth, with injuries clustering in the legs and lower back. Similar patterns have been reported in elite youth ski racing. Bones outpace soft tissues wherever kids are asked to perform.

A Note on Boys and Girls

Girls generally reach their growth spurt earlier. Boys typically reach it later but grow at a faster rate. That alone is one reason chronological age is a poor guide to maturity. Two 13-year-olds can be at completely different stages of development.

Some studies report differences in injury patterns between boys and girls during adolescence. Be careful about assuming these differences are purely biological. Girls' sport has historically had less access to structured athletic development, strength training, and injury-prevention programs. At least some of the observed differences may reflect training exposure rather than growth itself.

Putting It Into Practice

You don't need a sports science degree to apply any of this. A few simple habits can meaningfully change how you coach young athletes through this window.