The Fact
A 2024 systematic review of 2,323 female athletes found strong evidence that post-pubertal girls showed greater inward knee angle and greater knee-loading moments during jump landings than pre-pubertal girls. Puberty changes the body’s geometry and the mechanics of landing.
What This Means
A girl can enter puberty with movement habits learned in a child’s body and come out with a differently proportioned frame. Her brain and muscles have to control that changed frame. Teaching landing, cutting and jumping technique matters because her mechanics have changed.
Gym class and sports training should not assume that a movement learned before puberty will automatically remain mechanically appropriate afterward.
Sources
- Ramachandran AK et al. Sports Medicine. 2024. PMID: 38671176.