Overuse Injuries in Teenagers

Abstract

Overuse injuries in teenagers have increased in incidence in the past decades. Adequately diagnosing these injuries is a challenge ('Figures 1' and '2'), especially when unfamiliar with the specific overuse injury patterns and the development steps of the teenager musculoskeletal system. When considering overuse injuries in this population it is helpful to focus on two points or resemblance and dissemblance between teenagers and adults: Teenagers are 'the same' as adults. Increasingly teenagers are exposed to a higher – more professional – level of sport activities. Likewise, the specific activities they have to perform for their specific sport are the same as in adults ('Figures 3' and '4'). Teenagers are 'not the same' as adults. Their intrinsic biomechanics differ greatly from that of adults, with the growing (apo)physis as the most striking difference between both. Thus, the same specific activity result in different injuries ('Figure 5'). In this lecture, we will focus mainly on similarities between overuse injuries in different anatomical regions. How do these injuries relate to each other, considering their similarities in development and different types of stress? Could we use the basics of one type of overuse injury as a guideline for the other injuries?

Keywords

• pediatric radiology
• overuse
• stress injury
• stress fractures
• apophysitis
• avulsion fracture