I don’t get on here as often as I’d like, so hopefully somebody can point me to the correct thread if this issue has already come up. I have an athlete (14yo) who continued to play soccer through his left hamstring injury. I knew him before and during his injury but had not worked with him until recently. As a result, he became very dependent on his right side to propel him. Even when his hamstring healed, he continued this awkward style. He would drive very hard with his right leg, but left leg was slow and very inflexible. His right leg would also rotate outward just before foot contact. His upper body would jerk forward with each drive of his right leg. After playing through pain for about six months, he learned he had a stress fracture in the neck of his femur on his right leg. Needless to say, I was not entirely surprised. His doctor advised no high impact, no sprinting until mid November, but can continue moderate strength and flexibility work. My question here is, when he is fully released, what should I attack first and more often? Both anterior and posterior chain were affected.
The first thing is to restore ROM everywhere through therapy before working on any strength issues. Until this is done, you won’t really know what, if any, residual strength issues there will be with a 14yo whose physiology is changing rapidly.