My 14-year-old daughter grew in height by eight inches over the summer. When soccer started she injured her knee during the first practice. Is there any chance the injury was caused by the growth spurt, or is this just a coincidence?

It looks like girls may be affected more by growth spurts than boys are affected. According to a recent study muscles seem unable to adapt to changes in height, weight, and bone length in girls. The result is a loss of knee stability.

This is an important finding. Research is focused on preventing knee injuries in young female athletes like your daughter. In future studies athletes from all kinds of sports teams will be evaluated and compared. It's possible only certain sports are involved.

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