It might begin subtly, with your child mentioning tired feet after playing, or seeming to lag during sports they typically dominate, and needing extra pauses during training sessions. As a parent, it can be difficult to know whether this is normal tiredness or something you should be concerned about.
Active kids don’t always present with obvious pain symptoms. Instead they may demonstrate subtle signs such as lack of enthusiasm, change in performance or general achiness after a day filled with running around and playing sports.
Learning about growing feet and their role in your kids’ sporting activities can help you know when everything is normal and when they might need some extra support.
What “Proper Foot Support” Actually Means for Kids
We shouldn’t assume support means adding something to every child’s foot. What it means is allowing the foot to cope when challenged with running, jumping and quickly changing direction repeatedly without becoming overloaded.
In some cases, parents start looking into the best insoles for soccer or kids’ foot pain after football when a child begins to show signs of fatigue, soreness or reduced comfort during play. Insoles can be a useful part of the approach in these situations, particularly when used alongside appropriate footwear and sensible load management.
But good support always starts with ensuring your kids’ shoes fit properly and work well. The shoe may be the perfect length but may not have enough support through the midfoot and heel to cope with how children load up when playing sport. When there is support the foot is able to remain controlled when under load, but it can also move efficiently when it needs to from action to action.
The key thing to note about support is it shouldn’t limit movement. Too much stiffness can restrict the foot’s ability to adapt to changes in surface, speed and direction. Conversely, not having enough structure can allow too much movement, which will build up over time. We want to give the foot enough support to help with its function, not take away from it.
Naturally, given the varied demands different sports place on children’s feet, soccer boots, running shoes, and court shoes all modify the way force is absorbed and distributed in the lower limb. So one style of support may not be what’s ideal in other sports or positions.
How Kids’ Feet Are Still Developing
The ongoing development of a child’s foot bones, muscles, and coordination means their foot’s structure and gait will evolve throughout their growth. Unlike adult feet, a child’s feet are still developing, meaning their movement and response to stress will change as they grow.
Growth spurts can also temporarily affect biomechanics while the body adapts to rapidly growing taller and longer limbs. Balance, coordination, and control can take time to adjust during periods of growth, affecting how well the foot and lower limb cope with daily activities.
This ongoing growth means children’s feet are more adaptable than adult feet, offering a real plus for picking up movement and sports skills. This vulnerability means they can more readily experience strain if the pace of activity outstrips their capacity.
Why Sport and Activity Increase Load on Growing Feet
Sporting activities typically require repetitive loading through running, jumping, sprinting and cutting maneuvers. During these activities the foot and lower limb are placed under compressive loads that need to be absorbed and recovered from repeatedly during training and play.
Monitoring training load is particularly important in children due to the high likelihood that they will not only have structured training, but also attend school sport and playground games in between. This can significantly add to their load, without built-in recovery.
Similarly, many children play both school sports and weekend sports. This can often lead to children being quite active throughout the week, giving their feet little time to recover from the demands of their activities.
Team sports have many benefits including improving coordination, confidence and movement skills. But when we look at the constant impact, these activities might inadvertently increase the load on your child’s feet, particularly during the height of team sport participation.
Common Foot and Lower Limb Issues in Active Kids
Active kids aren’t always the best communicators of pain and many foot and leg problems present as behavioral changes as well as physical symptoms. Heel pain is one of the most common presentations as some inflammation can occur within the growth plates of developing tissues, particularly when there is a spike in activity.
Flat feet and general tiredness are also commonly seen, especially after a long day of sports or standing around. Kids may not always voice pain but can seem more fatigued, slower on their feet or less likely to participate for extended periods of time. Shin pain is another presentation that we commonly see that is often associated with “growing pains” but is really more related to loading and activity levels.
Anterior knee pain is another presentation that can occur during sport, particularly ones that involve running, jumping or frequent changes of direction. Often, this is related to how forces are distributed through the foot and lower limb, rather than to a problem in the knee joint itself. Blisters, generalized soreness and a gradual reduction in activity can also be early indicators that the feet are becoming overloaded.
It can be difficult for parents to interpret these signs, so often it comes down to you piecing together clues over a period of time rather than one definitive complaint. There are some instances where having a basic first aid kit for your family can help manage any general soreness or skin irritation post activity however more persistent symptoms should be evaluated.
Strength, Movement, and Load: The Missing Piece
Footwear and support can help with comfort and providing some protection, but it’s only part of the story when it comes to your child’s feet tolerating sports. Strength and control in your child’s foot and calf muscles are also important to regulate movement and absorb some of the loading forces experienced when running, jumping and landing.
Movement skills are always developing as children grow. Speed, coordination and agility will all influence how effectively they can move their bodies through space. Good movement patterns, balance and coordination will allow forces to be dissipated through the lower limb more effectively when actions become quicker or more demanding.
That’s why providing support alone is often not enough to solve your child’s symptoms. If your child’s movement control is weak or their muscles can’t handle high loads, they simply won’t be able to tolerate as much activity. Good footwear or insoles can help, but the foot still has to do some work to help absorb load.
Providing enough time for kids to build up a tolerance to sport and regular movement is often the best solution. If kids have regular, well-controlled exposure to sport their tissues will gradually become more tolerant of load.
Signs a Child May Need More Support
Children often won’t present with an obvious complaint about their foot or leg. This means that we look for trends in the way they act when they’re inactive compared with when they’re active. A common early indicator is children complaining after sport or PE, especially after days when they’ve done more running, jumping or training.
Kids may also try and avoid participating in activities they once enjoyed. Often this isn’t related to pain during activity but can be related to them feeling more tired or uncomfortable during or after activity. Another clue is seeing how shoes wear unevenly over time, which might mean weight isn’t being distributed evenly across the feet.
Regular tripping, fatigue or a decrease in sporting performance can also suggest that more effort is being exerted through the lower limbs to manage activities of daily living. In some cases, symptoms may show up at rest, such as morning stiffness or reluctance to walk after sleeping, when the body has been inactive and stiffness becomes more noticeable on first movement.
When to Get Feet Checked
Although most minor aches and pains with active children should settle down with relative time and basic management, there are some instances where it is worthwhile to reassess your child. Constant pain or pain that is getting worse or not resolving with time can be one indication that there is something more serious underlying.
Symptoms that are only occurring on one side of the body are also another indication. For instance, a persistent imbalance where one foot or leg consistently experiences more issues could signal a deeper problem with how a child moves or bears weight.
If your child is experiencing pain during sport, school day activities or is limited in movement. These are indications that you should seek further advice from your local Podiatrist or physiotherapist, who can help determine the underlying cause and manage accordingly.
Supporting Movement, Not Limiting It
Children thrive when encouraged to be active and supported to do so comfortably, not when we take their movement away from them. Your aim with footwear, orthotics or any intervention isn’t to limit activity and play or hold kids back, it’s to decrease unnecessary stress so they can keep doing the things they love injury-free.
Early management can decrease the chances of these symptoms becoming chronic and help promote a healthy movement pattern.