Acute Lower Extremity Injuries in Pediatric and Adolescent Sports

Abstract

The lower limb is frequently involved in acute sports-related injuries. More than 50 % of all sports injuries involve the lower limb. The knee and ankle are most frequently injured. Ankle sprains are the most common injuries in all sports, accounting for 15 % of all reported injuries, while the knee is the most common severely injured, accounting for 44.6 % of all surgeries. As the number of children and adolescents participating in competitive sports is growing, soft tissue injuries of the knee are becoming more common. In about 50–70 % of cases of knee hemarthrosis, an ACL tear is present. Physeal fractures are common injuries in children and adolescents participating in contact sports, and they can lead to disturbances in growth such as limb length discrepancy. The distal femur and distal tibia are the most frequently involved. Apophyseal avulsion fractures of the pelvis are more common in adolescent sprinters, distance runners, and soccer and tennis players, and they are the result of a sudden forceful concentric or eccentric contraction of the muscle attached to the apophysis. Muscular injuries and acute compartment syndrome are also lower limb injuries that can occur as a result of sport participation.