A problem many parents know
The season has only just started, and once again your child is complaining about pain in the calf, the back of the thigh or the groin. Sometimes it’s just overload; other times it’s a strain that keeps them out of training for days or weeks. When they come back, everything seems fine, but after a while the problem returns.
At that point we often hear that the body is still too weak, that they need to stretch more, or simply that “that’s sport”. Of course, injuries are part of football and can never be eliminated completely. But it’s worth asking whether a young player’s body is really using every available means to prevent them.
One factor that gets far too little attention is the way we breathe.
Youth football injuries rarely have a single cause
In sport, you can rarely point to one factor behind an injury. Youth football injuries are usually the result of many factors combined:
training load,
poorer recovery,
lower sleep quality,
previous overload,
fatigue,
physical preparation.
Breathing deserves a place on this list too.
Surprising as it may seem, breathing affects how muscles work, trunk stability, the body’s level of tension and the pace of recovery. All of these matter when it comes to injury risk.
Why breathing matters
Most people associate breathing only with delivering oxygen. In fact, its role is much broader.
The diaphragm (the main breathing muscle) does more than help us breathe. It also plays an important part in stabilising the trunk when running or changing direction. When breathing is inefficient, the body relies more on accessory breathing muscles in the neck and upper chest. Over time, this can lead to excessive tension, poorer movement control and greater load on other structures.
This doesn’t mean that breathing alone causes injuries. It does mean that dysfunctional breathing can be one piece of the puzzle that makes the body more vulnerable to overload.
A tired body works differently
For many players, the way they move on the pitch at the end of a match looks different from the start. Strides get shorter, reactions slower and movements less precise. That’s a natural result of building fatigue. But if a player also breathes inefficiently, fatigue can set in earlier. And the sooner the body starts compensating, the greater the risk that individual muscles (including the breathing muscles) will work harder than they should. This in turn can increase the risk of muscle injuries, especially late in matches or during intense training sessions.
It’s not just about muscles
Breathing also has a strong influence on the nervous system. If the body stays in a state of high arousal for long periods, full recovery between sessions becomes harder. Muscles stay tenser, sleep may be less restful, and the player starts the next session without having fully recovered.
This isn’t always noticeable straight away. It often shows up gradually: more stiffness, more frequent overload and a slower return to form after intense matches.
Why stretching alone often doesn’t solve the problem
After every injury, many young footballers get similar advice: more stretching, more foam rolling, more mobility work.
These are valuable parts of preparation, but they don’t always address the cause of the problem.
If the body spends most of the day in a heightened state of tension, and the way the player breathes reinforces that state, briefly relaxing the muscles after training may not be enough. It’s a bit like mopping the floor while the tap is still dripping.
Warning signs parents should look out for
Not every injury means there’s a breathing problem. But some situations are worth treating as a signal to look more closely. For example, when your child:
regularly struggles with muscle overload,
takes a long time to recover after matches,
often feels muscle stiffness,
tires quickly during intense exercise,
breathes through the mouth not only during intense effort, but also during moderate exercise, throughout the day or while sleeping.
Each of these symptoms can have different causes. But it’s worth remembering that breathing is also one of the things worth checking.
Can the risk of youth football injuries be reduced?
No method can eliminate injuries completely. Football will always be a sport with a high injury rate. But you can influence the factors that improve the body’s ability to tolerate load. Alongside proper strength training, recovery, sleep and sensible training planning, more and more attention is being paid to breathing quality. The goal isn’t to do random breathing exercises, but to improve how the whole body functions, both during exercise and at rest.
What does an assessment look like?
When working with young athletes, we don’t assume from the outset that breathing is the source of every problem. First, we check how the player breathes at rest, how they respond to exercise and whether there are limitations that could affect endurance, tension levels and recovery. Only then can we decide which breathing training is worth considering and what needs to improve. Every player is different. Two footballers with similar injuries can have completely different underlying causes.
What you can do today
Start by observing. Does your child breathe through their nose during the day? What does their breathing look like after training? Do they calm down quickly, or do they keep breathing hard for several minutes? How do they sleep? Do they wake up rested? This kind of information often lets you look at the body more broadly than just through the lens of the next injury.
When to see a breathing specialist
If your child:
regularly struggles with overload,
often misses training because of minor injuries,
takes a long time to recover after matches,
tires quickly,
breathes through the mouth or struggles to control their breathing during exercise,
it’s worth checking whether the way they breathe is one of the factors making their body more vulnerable to overload. During a consultation, we assess how the respiratory system works, how the body responds to exercise and whether there are elements that can be improved to support endurance and recovery and reduce the risk of overload.
Summary
Injuries in sport rarely have a single cause. They are usually the result of many overlapping factors. That’s why it’s worth looking at a young player as a whole.
Breathing won’t replace well-planned training, physical preparation or physiotherapy. But it may be the missing piece that affects stability, fatigue, recovery and the way the body copes with increasing load.
The sooner we take care of these foundations, the better the chance that a young footballer will spend more time on the pitch than in the physio’s room.
