14 Year Old Boy Growth Spurt

As a pediatrician I would advise having him evaluated by a doctor. He may be iron deficient or outright anemic. What’s his diet like?

Also consider asking his doctor to check for EBV titers and Covid titers. EBV ( mono) can cause a fatigue and drop in athletic performance that can linger for months and I’ve seen a number of teens get covid, have mild symptoms, but then have weeks of fatigue.

Did he do any base building over the summer? Could be that his growth spurt combined with a weak base has set him back.

If that’s the case, may need to step back and just work on aerobic strength for a season? Let his brain get used to his new body so to speak

Kinda reminds me of female runners who as prepubertal athletes look like world beaters but regress as their bodies change in puberty.

Good luck.

It's not uncommon, but I know it sucks when the young adolescents endure Osgood-Schlotter. Put him on a good general conditioning program- he needs to work on strength, mobility, and coordination while minimizing the pounding of running.

coach wrote:

It's not uncommon, but I know it sucks when the young adolescents endure Osgood-Schlotter. .

This occurs often at that age. Don't sweat it.

I had it when I was 16. Knocked me out of most of the xc season. Was able to run the last two meets of the year.

I don’t want to discount a medical condition. I’m not a doctor. However, when I was around that age, I had a similar growth spurt. Baseball was my main sport. I was a pitcher, and that season I was terrible. Usually, I was very good. It was very difficult for me, emotionally. I just felt very uncoordinated, and I was very worried that I’d never perform well again.

If you want, have him checked out by a physician. It could just be that he has to get used to his new body.

We’ve heard about your emotional reaction to your kid’s growth spurt. How’s your kid taking all of this? Try and relax a little. It should all work out in time.

Malmo, We're friends on Facebook so you might know exactly who the kid is that I'm talking about. What were your times like before and after you went through this? Do you remember how long it persisted?

malmo wrote:

coach wrote:

It's not uncommon, but I know it sucks when the young adolescents endure Osgood-Schlotter. .

This occurs often at that age. Don't sweat it.

I had it when I was 16. Knocked me out of most of the xc season. Was able to run the last two meets of the year.

As others have said, this is not uncommon.

So, he's a freshman in high school now I take it? He ran a 9:18 3000 as an 8th grader? That's pretty nuts.

I'd be more concerned about his potential progress in high school if he were super mature in middle school and were now putting on lots of muscle. Doesn't sound like that's the case.

Lots of energy is used to support a growth spurt like that. Once that settles down, he will likely start improving as a runner again (assuming he's interested in it).

I will echo getting him to his doctor though just to check out all things.

Good luck!

Yeah, he ran that as an 8th grader in June. Within two weeks after that race he started struggling. And he's definitely not one of these kids that matured early. Last year at this time he was 5'2" and now he's at least 5'7". Luckily he has a huge aerobic base so maybe he doesn't regress too badly. I'm thinking to keep having him putting in his miles but moving speedwork to grass instead of the track so he won't get discouraged looking at relatively slow times constantly. I had a teammate in high school go through something similar. He won everything in 8th grade and then turned into a scrub his freshman year. By the end of his sophomore year he was back to running well. I've been asking him all sorts of questions to understand what he went through. At the time we all thought he was lazy and wasn't working as hard as the rest of us. We didn't have any idea how much he was struggling because he never gave any excuses.

Flagpole wrote:

As others have said, this is not uncommon.

So, he's a freshman in high school now I take it? He ran a 9:18 3000 as an 8th grader? That's pretty nuts.

I'd be more concerned about his potential progress in high school if he were super mature in middle school and were now putting on lots of muscle. Doesn't sound like that's the case.

Lots of energy is used to support a growth spurt like that. Once that settles down, he will likely start improving as a runner again (assuming he's interested in it).

I will echo getting him to his doctor though just to check out all things.

Good luck!

Manbearpig15 wrote:

Luckily he has a huge aerobic base so maybe he doesn't regress too badly. I'm thinking to keep having him putting in his miles but moving speedwork to grass instead of the track so he won't get discouraged looking at relatively slow times constantly.

I had a teammate ... At the time we all thought he was lazy and wasn't working as hard as the rest of us.

Sheesh. Let the kid be a kid. Relax.

You make me nervous.

[quote]Manbearpig15 wrote:

My kid turned 14 in July. This past spring he ran 2:11 800m, 4:19 1500m, and 9:18 3000m. Things were going great.

Then he grew 4-5 inches over the summer. Now he can barely run. His form is gone. There's no turnover. Distance runs are over 8:00/mile most days. He can barely do speedwork under 6:00/mile pace. He's run a couple cross country races and has been way over a minute behind a kid that he always beats handily.

I'm shocked how much he has fallen apart over the last three months. It looks like his center of gravity has completely changed. Maybe he might have Osgood-Schlatters from my Google research.

So Osgood-Schlatters is not part of the conversation. Thats a musculoskeletal injury that hurts, and thus you dont run or run less. I didnt hear that he was slower due to a painful knee condition? The Pediatrician is right, but I would add on something anecdotally that you are already thinking about. I have coached multiple youth sports, and we routinely talk about kids (usually more like 12/13 year olds) that need to grow into their body. This is not a medical diagnosis! But we see it every year, some kid that is 6 inches taller than everyone is just waiting to break out cant get out of their own way, then a year later they are a force. See it in hockey a lot, i assume it happens in BBall etc... Nothing should be different with VO2max or basic physiology, and those are great times. So assuming he his healthy, sometimes they just need to catch up to the new body metrics, center of gravity as you say. But to be sure a big spurt could definitely change form and turnover at least until he catches up, but if he is truly exhausted and running "minutes" slower, that might be a quick Peds work up.

coach wrote:

It's not uncommon, but I know it sucks when the young adolescents endure Osgood-Schlotter. Put him on a good general conditioning program- he needs to work on strength, mobility, and coordination while minimizing the pounding of running.

He didnt say his knee hurt. It's not OS. OS is a knee overuse injury. If he says he is running slowly because his knee hurts, thats an easy diagnosis.

bigmig19 wrote:

coach wrote:

It's not uncommon, but I know it sucks when the young adolescents endure Osgood-Schlotter. Put him on a good general conditioning program- he needs to work on strength, mobility, and coordination while minimizing the pounding of running.

He didnt say his knee hurt. It's not OS. OS is a knee overuse injury. If he says he is running slowly because his knee hurts, thats an easy diagnosis.

The OP brought up Osgood Schlotter after his research. Regardless a good general conditioning program should be undertaken.

Manbearpig15 wrote:

My kid turned 14 in July. This past spring he ran 2:11 800m, 4:19 1500m, and 9:18 3000m. Things were going great.

Then he grew 4-5 inches over the summer. Now he can barely run. His form is gone. There's no turnover. Distance runs are over 8:00/mile most days. He can barely do speedwork under 6:00/mile pace. He's run a couple cross country races and has been way over a minute behind a kid that he always beats handily.

I'm shocked how much he has fallen apart over the last three months. It looks like his center of gravity has completely changed. Maybe he might have Osgood-Schlatters from my Google research.

I just don't know what's wrong or how to help him get through it.

I had Osgood-Schlatters HARD when I was 13/14 and it was really, really terrible. If this is what he's dealing with, it'll be some very specific below knee pain with throbbing and soreness all the time, but especially during exercise. For me, on my left knee it was a really noticeable bump under the knee, less so on the right leg. It will be impossible for him to kneel, or at least cause significant pain.

Definitely get to a Dr and get it diagnosed. In the least, getting a medical definition of what's going might reduce the uncertainty of what's wrong and ease some anxiety.

coach wrote:

bigmig19 wrote:

He didnt say his knee hurt. It's not OS. OS is a knee overuse injury. If he says he is running slowly because his knee hurts, thats an easy diagnosis.

The OP brought up Osgood Schlotter after his research. Regardless a good general conditioning program should be undertaken.

Indeed. He brought it up, help him out by pointing out it is in no way in the differential diagnosis. Does a 2:11 800 guy need "general conditioning"? Probably a trip to the doc and some patience and support. He will come around.

Coached a number of OS kids. Often they run like they have rigor mortis. No much to do but wait it out. Second hand message I've gotten from the doctors (via the parents) is its a tolerability thing. You can run as much as you can tolerate the discomfort. For some, its not much, for others its a minor aggravation. But seek actual first-hand med advice.

Its also indeed not uncommon even for boys, to plateau or even regress during a rapid growth phase. For ladies, its a near lock, but it happens to boys too.

bigmig19 wrote:

coach wrote:

The OP brought up Osgood Schlotter after his research. Regardless a good general conditioning program should be undertaken.

Indeed. He brought it up, help him out by pointing out it is in no way in the differential diagnosis. Does a 2:11 800 guy need "general conditioning"? Probably a trip to the doc and some patience and support. He will come around.

Regardless of talent, any young adolescent going through a growth spurt might be wise to back off sport specific training and focus on general conditioning

34hrf9h wrote:

Coached a number of OS kids. Often they run like they have rigor mortis. No much to do but wait it out. Second hand message I've gotten from the doctors (via the parents) is its a tolerability thing. You can run as much as you can tolerate the discomfort. For some, its not much, for others its a minor aggravation. But seek actual first-hand med advice.

Its also indeed not uncommon even for boys, to plateau or even regress during a rapid growth phase. For ladies, its a near lock, but it happens to boys too.

That is a perfect description. His form looks like he's in rigor mortis. Almost looks like an old man running, especially the slower he goes. He also seems to bounce up and down instead of projecting movement forward.

For those arguing in this post, yes, he does have some knee pain.

I'm no doctor but the way I interpret Osgood-Schlatters is that the leg bones grow faster than the surrounding muscles, ligaments, tendons, etc. I'm assuming a sudden growth spurt would be a prime indication of this condition.