The DOI matches its Crossref record; 105 of the 105 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 119 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery
Open accessAbstract
Background: Despite the well-documented benefits of exercise and sports participation, young athletes are particularly vulnerable to musculoskeletal injuries. This is especially true during periods of rapid growth, sports specialisation, and high training loads. While injuries are an inevitable aspect of sports participation, the risk can be minimised by promoting the development of strong, resilient tissues through proper nutrition and injury prevention strategies. Moreover, targeted nutrition strategies can accelerate recovery and rehabilitation, allowing for a quicker return to sports participation. Methods: This narrative review synthesises scientific evidence with practical insights to offer comprehensive dietary recommendations aimed at strengthening tissues and supporting the healing process during recovery and rehabilitation. The selection of all sources cited and synthesised in this narrative review were agreed upon by contributing author consensus, experts in sports nutrition (R.A., H.V., B.D.) and exercise and sports medicine (M.H.). Results: Key topics include factors that contribute to injury susceptibility, general dietary recommendations for growth and development, sports nutrition guidelines, and nutrition considerations during injury and rehabilitation. This review also addresses external factors that may lead to suboptimal nutrition, such as food literacy and eating disorders. Conclusions: By highlighting these factors, this article aims to equip coaches, nutritionists, dietitians, athletic trainers, physical therapists, parents/guardians, sporting organisations, and schools with essential knowledge to implement effective nutritional strategies for injury prevention, recovery, and rehabilitation, ultimately enhancing long-term health and athletic performance.
Overview
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TL;DR
This narrative review synthesises evidence and practical guidance on nutrition for youth and adolescent athletes to reduce musculoskeletal injury risk and support recovery. It covers growth-related nutrient demands, low energy availability/relative energy deficiency in sport (LEA/REDs), post-injury nutrition, collagen strategies, and psychosocial determinants including food literacy and eating disorders.
Key findings
- Injury burden and risk factors: reports include 2.29 injuries per 1000 athletic exposures in US high school athletes (2015–2019), 2.6 million US emergency room visits for sports-related injuries in 2001, 18,700 Australian child/adolescent sport/exercise/recreation injuries in 2021–2022, and 33–41% of Canadian youth reporting at least one serious sport injury requiring medical attention (data from 2003, 2005, 2007). Risk factors include growth periods, early sports specialisation, high training loads, and inadequate dietary intake.
- Growth and nutrient demands: total bone mineral content increases can reach 1.1 g/day, and lean body mass gains can reach ~2.3 g/day in females and ~3.8 g/day in males, a threefold increase from the prepubertal period. Energy deposited in growing tissues is estimated at ~2.0 kcal/gram of daily weight gain (e.g., a 15-year-old male gaining 6 kg/year ≈ 33 kcal/day). Adequate energy, protein, calcium, vitamin D, iron, and zinc are emphasised for musculoskeletal resilience.
- Post-injury nutrition: trauma or surgery elevates resting metabolic rate by 20–50%; early energy needs increase despite reduced activity. The review suggests carbohydrate intake in the lower range of standard sports nutrition recommendations (3–5 g/kg body mass) and protein distribution of 0.3 g/kg body mass across five meals/snacks. It notes preliminary evidence for ~10–15 g gelatine 30–60 min before rehabilitation exercises for connective tissue, but supplementation is generally considered inappropriate for young athletes unless clinically indicated.
- LEA/REDs and psychosocial factors: LEA/REDs can disrupt growth, bone health, immune function, and mental health, but diagnosis in youth is challenging due to limited research and no standardised criteria. Eating disorders and food literacy influence dietary intake, and practical recommendations include sports nutrition education, parent/guardian involvement, healthy body image promotion, policy advocacy, and access to multidisciplinary healthcare.
Methods
- Narrative review synthesising scientific evidence with practical insights; topics include injury susceptibility, general dietary recommendations for growth and development, sports nutrition guidelines, nutrition during injury/rehabilitation, and external factors such as food literacy and eating disorders.
- All cited and synthesised sources were selected by consensus of contributing authors, described as experts in sports nutrition (R.A., H.V., B.D.) and exercise and sports medicine (M.H.).
- No systematic search strategy, data extraction process, or formal quality appraisal is described in the text.
Limitations
- Paper-stated limitations: exact youth injury prevalence is difficult to determine due to lack of comprehensive databases, varied sports/ages, and under-reporting; sports-specific nutrition research in youth remains limited; LEA/REDs diagnosis lacks standardised criteria and is challenging; collagen research has been conducted in cell cultures, animal models, and adults, with safety/efficacy in children and adolescents not established; routine dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scanning is not recommended for those under 18.
- Evident from the text: as a narrative review with consensus-based source selection, it lacks systematic search and quality appraisal and may be subject to selection bias; many recommendations appear extrapolated from adult or mixed-age evidence because youth-specific data are limited.
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![Figure 1 Nutrition considerations for the injured adolescent athlete. Image generated by Microsoft (2024) Copilot [AI software], https://www.microsoft.com/copilot, accessed on 1 July 2024.](/paper-figures/fae057ff7733411aa134ea3cbaa84ac4/youth-and-adolescent-athlete-musculoskeletal-health-dietary-and-nutritional-figure-1.jpg)
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In the paper
“Trauma or surgery elevates RMR (i.e., energy expenditure at rest) by 20–50%.”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 3. Nutrition to Support Injury Management and Rehabilitation > 3.1. General Nutrition Considerations Post-Injury: Energy and Macronutrients
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [62] Demling, 2009, Nutrition, Anabolism, and the Wound Healing Process: An Overview, Eplasty
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In the paper
“Furthermore, due to increased physical activity, which places additional stress on the musculoskeletal system, adolescent athletes may also require higher nutrient intakes than less active children and adolescents [9,31].”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 1. Introduction > 1.3. Injury Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies
What the sources say
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In the paper
“Dietary factors, such as insufficient dietary intake to fully support growth and development, limited nutrition education (including sports-specific knowledge), low food literacy, or the presence of an eating disorder can increase the risk of injury due to inadequate nutrient intake [9].”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 1. Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [9] Desbrow, 2021, Youth Athlete Development and Nutrition, Sports Med. source
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In the paper
“Deficiencies in these nutrients can hinder growth and development, resulting in a weakened musculoskeletal system that is less resilient and more injury prone.”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 1. Introduction > 1.3. Injury Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies
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In the paper
“insufficient caloric intake relative to the demands of training can significantly impair tissue health and increase injury susceptibility [32].”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 2. Nutrition to Support Injury Prevention
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites [32] Kelly, R.K., and Ackerman, K.E. (2023). Relative energy deficits in sport in the youth athlete, Chapter 51. The Youth Athlete, Krabek, B.J., Brooks, A., Eds., Academic Press. source
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In the paper
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 1. Introduction > 1.3. Injury Risk Factors and Prevention Strategies
“The USA baseball medical and safety advisory committee recommends limits on the number of pitches thrown per game and per week by young pitchers, along with mandatory rest periods to help prevent arm injuries [22].”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > References
“22. Corbi F. Matas S. Álvarez-Herms J. Sitko S. Baiget E. Reverter-Masia J. López-Laval I. Osgood-Schlatter Disease: Appearance, Diagnosis and Treatment: A Narrative Review”
Rated minor: it would not touch a result — a value no result rests on, a p-value that stays on the same side of the significance level, or a conflict that is clerical, resolved elsewhere in the paper, or outside its own findings.
In the paper
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > 3. Nutrition to Support Injury Management and Rehabilitation > 3.2. Micronutrients: Diet Quality vs. Supplementation for Youth Injury Recovery
“Adhering to dietary guidelines such as the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating (AGHE) [60] or the American dietary guidelines [84]”
§ Youth and Adolescent Athlete Musculoskeletal Health: Dietary and Nutritional Strategies to Optimise Injury Prevention and Support Recovery > References
“60. Giraldo-Vallejo J.E. Cardona-Guzmán M. Rodríguez-Alcivar E.J. Kočí J. Petro J.L. Kreider R.B. Cannataro R. Bonilla D.A. Nutritional Strategies in the Rehabilitation of Musculoskeletal Injuries in Athletes: A Systematic Integrative Review”
Cited works that were retracted
Works this paper cites that were later retracted, from the retraction notices publishers deposit. Major when the notice came out before this paper was published.
A note, not an issue: for example, a cited work that was retracted only after this paper was published, which its authors could not have known.
In the paper
“Pizzarro, 2024, Epidemiology of Sports Injuries Among High School Athletes in the United States: Data From 2015 to 2019, Orthop. J. Sports Med., 12, 23259671241252637, 10.1177/23259671241252637”
Cited work 10.1177/23259671241252637 · retracted 2024-11-05 · notice 10.1177/23259671241290250 · this paper published 2024-11-05
Citations
Cites
1 retracted
Pizzarro, J., Chiang, B., Malyavko, A., Monroig, C., Mehran, N., Ahmed, S. I., & Tabaie, S. (2024) · Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1177/23259671241252637 · Cited by 13
RetractedDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
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Lost in knowledge translation: Time for a map?
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IOC Consensus Statement: Dietary Supplements and the High-performance Athlete
Maughan, R. J., Burke, L. M., Dvorak, J., Larson-Meyer, D. E., Peeling, P., Phillips, S. M., Rawson, E. S., Walsh, N. P., Garthe, I., Geyer, H., et al. (2018) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2018-099027 · Cited by 1,004
Carbohydrates for training and competition
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International Olympic Committee consensus statement on youth athletic development
Bergeron, M. F., Mountjoy, M., Armstrong, N., Chia, M., Côté, J., Emery, C. A., Faigenbaum, A., Hall, G., Kriemler, S., Léglise, M., et al. (2015) · British Journal of Sports Medicine · doi:10.1136/bjsports-2015-094962 · Cited by 881
Defining food literacy and its components
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Self-citation
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Maughan, R.J. (2013). How to assess the energy costs of exercise and sport, Chapter 4. The Encylopedia of Sports Medicine, International Olympic Committee (IOC), John Wiley and Sons.
- (2024, July 18). Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025, 2020, 164, Available online: https://www.dietaryguidelines.gov/sites/default/files/2020-12/Dietary_Guidelines_for_Americans_2020-2025.pdf.
Cited by
Cherni, Y., Mzita, I., Oranchuk, D. J., Dhahbi, W., Hammami, M., Ceylan, H. İ., Ștefănică, V., & Chelly, M. S. (2025) · Sport Sciences for Health · doi:10.1007/s11332-025-01498-4 · Cited by 37
The Sleep, Recovery, and Nutrition Characteristics of Elite Adolescent Athletes
Mason, L., Connolly, J., Devenney, L. E., Lacey, K., O’Donovan, J., Faulkner, M., & Doherty, R. (2025) · Sports · doi:10.3390/sports13020050 · Cited by 17
Veloso-Pulgar, M., Fernández de Arriba, R., & Farran-Codina, A. (2025) · Nutrition Research Reviews · doi:10.1017/s0954422425100152 · Cited by 4
Veloso-Pulgar, M., & Farran-Codina, A. (2025) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu17152560 · Cited by 4
Prevalence of Sports Injuries Among Athletes in the Lucknow Region: A Cross-Sectional Study
Chowdhery, A., Agarwal, A., & Saini, A. (2025) · Cureus · doi:10.7759/cureus.90266 · Cited by 3
Metadata
- Authors
- Alcock, R., Hislop, M., Vidgen, H. A., & Desbrow, B.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Brisbane Sports and Exercise Medicine Specialists, Brisbane, QLD 4170, Australia
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- Griffith University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Desbrow, Ben
- Venue
- Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2024-11-05
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 221
- ISSN
- 2411-5142 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC11587028
- OpenAlex
- W4404064941
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 105
- Citations by year
- 2026: 17 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 2.66
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Functional Morphology and Kinesiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Orthopedics and Sports Medicine › Sports injuries and prevention
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology (medical) › Exercise and Physiological Responses
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Muscle metabolism and nutrition
- Keywords
- youth athletes, musculoskeletal injuries, injury prevention, sports nutrition, injury recovery, rehabilitation nutrition, dietary recommendations, growth and development, training load, food literacy, eating disorders, return to sport
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