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Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Traumatology pp 19–30Cite as

Basic Science and Injury in Growing Athletes: Muscle, Tendon, and Ligament

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Abstract

Physical activity and sports nowadays constitute one of the foundations for a correct psychophysical development, both in children and adolescents. It has been accounted that about 30 million children across the United States participate in organized athletic activities, and this number is increasing; the same increasing trend has been recently reported in Europe by the Olympic Committees. Even though, on the one hand, these activities lead to lifelong habits of exercising and teamwork value, on the other hand, as the competition and the technical complexity of exercises increases, training, and workout become longer and more intense with shorter rest periods. The accumulation of repetitive stress without adequate recovery time along with skeletal immaturity can cause many soft tissue injuries. In particular, sports injuries are responsible for nearly a quarter of all injuries in children and adolescents. The aim of this chapter is to provide a report on epidemiology, risk factors and basic science in soft tissue injuries (muscles, tendons, and ligaments), from trauma to recovery, involving the young “growing” athlete.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Orthopedics, Department of Clinical and Molecular Sciences, School of Medicine, Marche Polytechnic University, Via Tronto 10, 60126, Ancona, Italy

    Antonio Gigante, Alberto Busilacchi, Francesco Greco & Luigi de Palma

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  1. Antonio Gigante
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  2. Alberto Busilacchi
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  3. Francesco Greco
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  4. Luigi de Palma
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Correspondence to Antonio Gigante .

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  1. Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital Rome, University of Cassino, Rome, Italy

    Vincenzo Guzzanti

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Gigante, A., Busilacchi, A., Greco, F., de Palma, L. (2014). Basic Science and Injury in Growing Athletes: Muscle, Tendon, and Ligament. In: Guzzanti, V. (eds) Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Traumatology. Springer, Milano. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-88-470-5412-7_2

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