Adolescent services

We offer a breadth of adolescent health services across our paediatric facilities.

We can diagnose and treat a range of conditions affecting your teenager, from the everyday to the most acute or complex. That includes everything from sports injuries and fractures to developmental disorders.

Headed up by some of the UK’s leading consultants, our expert teams have extensive experience of working with children across a range of medical conditions. Together, they bring real insight to the developmental needs and issues teenagers face.

Our teams work with compassion and sensitivity, aiming to ensure our patients and their families feel comfortable, safe and reassured at every visit.

Many of our consultants hold prominent positions at London's top teaching hospitals, with young patients travelling from across the UK as well as overseas to be treated by them.

Stress fractures usually happen from repeating the same movement, such as when someone intensively trains for a sport, or from everyday activities due to a medical condition or even poor nutrition. They include:

• Common sports injuries such as hairline cracks in the bones, usually in the lower leg and feet
• Caused by repeated shock and overload from, for example, running on hard surfaces or certain exercises such as gymnastics, tennis, dance and athletics
• If pain is felt during exercise, we can screen for stress fractures

Medical tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) is commonly called ‘shin splints’. This is an encompassing term to explain pain on exercise, rather than diagnosis.

• MTSS is an overuse injury or repetitive-stress injury of the shin area
• There are many risk factors for MTSS, with no one factor regularly to blame
• Although often not serious, it can be quite disabling and can progress to more serious complications if not treated properly

Seeking medical help is an important first step as other conditions must be excluded first.

We treat teenagers of all ages from 12 to 18 years, of all activity levels, from high-performance future sports athletes to teenagers with weekend hobbies.

Our specialist London Ligament Repair Unit at The Portland Hospital is dedicated solely to the diagnosis and management of knee ligament injuries in children and young people.

Biomechanics looks at how your bones, muscles and joints work together to help movement.

We can assess a range of movement and balance, around the area and joint, including the way your child walks or runs (gait) and their posture.

Our paediatric endocrine consultants treat children and adolescents of all ages who have hormone conditions. These conditions may affect their growth, development or metabolism.

Relative energy deficiency is where the body is not taking in enough energy to meet the demands, especially with the amount of exercise being performed.

• The condition of low energy availability affects all levels of adolescents
• Restricted eating and overtraining may put adolescents at risk of developing RED-S
• Energy deficiency can result in endocrine changes that need to be assessed and addressed

With comprehensive diagnostic screening services, we focus on early detection so we can deliver a fully individualised course of treatment.

Our experienced skin care experts diagnose and treat a full range of problems such as acne and infections, as well as inflammatory skin diseases like rosacea, eczema and psoriasis.

Whether you are concerned about worsening your teenagers skin complaints, you've noticed an unusual rash or mole, or hope to improve the appearance of a scar or a birthmark, we offer expert care.

Concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury which occurs after sustaining an injury to the head, through accidents or falls. It’s not uncommon for young sports people to receive a head injury during training or a competition. 

Concussion may or may not be accompanied by a loss of consciousness. And it may result in a child feeling sleepy, confused, suffering visual problems or more, so it’s important to get it check out.

Our partners at the Institute of Sport and Exercise Health (ISEH) run a world-leading, one-stop concussion clinic for amateur and professional athletes, including adolescents. The ISEH excels in resolving complex cases.

To make an appointment contact +44 (0)20 3447 2800 or visit ISEH for more details