Preventing Fall Sports Injuries in St. Louis Heat

The Toughest Two Weeks of the Sports Year

In a few weeks, football, soccer, volleyball, and cross country all fire up at once. Pattonville, Hazelwood, Ferguson-Florissant, and Ritenour athletes go from a summer of sleeping in and playing video games to two practices a day, in pads, in a St. Louis August. It is the single most predictable stretch of the year for young athletes to get hurt, and it happens for reasons that have nothing to do with talent.

I see the aftermath every year: the freshman whose shins are screaming by day four, the soccer player who rolled an ankle that was never quite ready, the lineman whose lower back locked up because he had not lifted or run since May. Almost all of it traces back to the same three things stacking up at once. If you understand them, you can get your athlete through preseason in one piece.

Why Preseason Is Where Kids Get Hurt

• They show up deconditioned. The average high schooler did not spend the summer training. Their heart, lungs, muscles, and connective tissue are not ready for two-a-days on day one, and preseason does not ease them in. The workload jumps from almost nothing to everything in a single week.
• The heat is a real opponent. Late August is the hottest, most humid stretch of the year here, and it takes the body 10 to 14 days to acclimatize to working hard in heat. Athletes who go full speed before they adapt are the ones who cramp, wilt, and in the worst cases end up with heat illness.
• The workload spikes too fast. The body adapts to load gradually. The general guideline is that training volume should climb by no more than about 10 percent a week. Preseason breaks that rule on purpose, and overuse injuries like shin splints, tendinitis, and stress reactions are the price.

Stack a deconditioned body, brutal heat, and a workload cliff, and injuries are not bad luck. They are the expected result.

The Injuries We See Most in August

• Overuse injuries. Shin splints, Achilles and knee tendinitis, and low-back and hip strains from the sudden mileage and lifting. These build over days, not in one moment, which is exactly why they get ignored until they are bad.
• Ankle and knee sprains. Deconditioned, fatigued muscles stabilize joints poorly, and tired legs late in a second practice are how ankles roll and knees twist.
• Back and neck strains. Linemen, throwers, and anyone new to a weight room strain the lower back when technique falls apart under fatigue. We cover the athlete-specific side of this on our sports chiropractic page.
• Heat illness. Cramping is the early warning. Dizziness, nausea, confusion, or a kid who stops sweating is a genuine emergency, and I will say clearly: that is a 911 or ER situation, not something to drive to a chiropractor. Heat stroke is fast and dangerous. Know the signs and act on them.

How to Get Ahead of It

• Do not let day one be the first workout of the summer. Even two or three weeks of running, bodyweight work, and light lifting before camp changes everything. The athletes who move all summer are not the ones on the training table in week one.
• Respect the heat timeline. The first several days of camp should be about acclimatizing, not conditioning. Hydrate before, during, and after, not just when thirsty, and treat cramping as a signal to back off, not push through.
• Fuel and sleep like it is part of practice. Kids skip breakfast, skip water, and stay up late, then wonder why they are dragging by the second session. Food, fluids, and sleep are where recovery actually happens.
• Do not coach through pain. There is a difference between the normal soreness of getting back in shape and a specific, sharp, or worsening pain in one spot. The first is fine. The second is how a two-week problem becomes a season-ending one.
• Get the physical done before camp, not the night before. A sports physical is the one built-in chance to catch a problem before it becomes an injury, and it is a requirement in Missouri anyway. We do them for $25, and you can book online and fill out the MSHSAA history from home so the visit is just the exam.

When to Get an Injury Looked At

Normal preseason soreness is achy, general, and improving day to day. Get your athlete checked when the pain is anything but that:

• Pain in one specific spot that is sharp, or that has been getting worse for more than a few days
• Any pain that changes how they run, throw, or move
• Swelling, or a joint that feels unstable or gives way
• Pain that radiates down a leg or an arm, or brings numbness or tingling
• Soreness in the same spot that keeps coming back every season

When an athlete comes in, I sort out whether it is a joint, a muscle, or a tendon problem with a hands-on exam, then treat it directly. Chiropractic adjustments free up restricted joints in the back, hips, and ankles, Active Muscle Release and Graston Technique work on the muscle and tendon side, and I send them home with a short list of things to do so it holds. The goal with a young athlete is always the same: get them back on the field at full strength, not just patched up enough to limp through Friday. The youth sports injuries page has more on the specific problems we treat.

New patients can schedule a first visit, which covers the exam and the first adjustment when it is appropriate.

Fall Preseason FAQs

How long does it take to get in shape for preseason?

There is no magic number, but the body needs weeks, not days. Two to four weeks of running, bodyweight work, and light lifting before camp makes a real difference, both for injury risk and for how an athlete performs once practices start.

Is soreness during two-a-days normal, or a sign of injury?

General, all-over muscle soreness that improves day to day is the normal cost of getting back in shape. Sharp pain in one specific spot, pain that is getting worse, or pain that changes how a kid moves is not routine soreness and is worth an exam.

When should a young athlete see a chiropractor instead of just resting?

Rest handles ordinary soreness. If the pain is one-sided and specific, is not improving after a few days, changes how they move, or keeps coming back every season, an exam is worth it. Overuse injuries respond much better when they are caught early.

Do you treat kids and teenagers, not just adults?

Yes. We treat student athletes routinely, with care matched to their age and their sport. The approach with a growing athlete is gentler and more conservative than with an adult, and the aim is always a full return to play.

Serving North County's Athletes

We are at 11520 St. Charles Rock Rd in Bridgeton, minutes from Florissant, Hazelwood, Maryland Heights, St. Ann, and the districts sending kids to two-a-days this August. Whether it is a preseason physical or a nagging injury that showed up in week one, we can help.

Schedule an appointment or call (636) 393-8390. Get them checked before the season, not during it.