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Sternal Injuries in Sport: A Review of the Literature

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Abstract

Sternal fractures were first described in published literature in the 19th century as a complication of traumatic injury. Though sternal fracture and other sternal injuries have been described in trauma literature, there remains a paucity of literature with regards to sternal injury in sport. Sternal injury may include disruption at the body, manubrium and xiphoid process, or at associated sternoclavicular, manubriosternal, and xiphisternal joints. In the athlete it is imperative to evaluate sternal injury with consideration of potentially devastating cardiothoracic complications. Return-to-play protocols should be individualized, taking into account subjective history, objective physical examination and diagnostics, current clinical guidelines, and individual sport-specific considerations. The literature regarding sternal injury is reviewed, with emphasis on sport-specific pathology, management, and return to play.

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Reprinted with permission from Taylor et al. [17]

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Reprinted with permission from Taylor et al. [17]

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Florida-Morton Plant Mease, 13330 Laurel Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Jeffrey Alent

  2. Department of Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, USF Morsani College of Medicine, 13330 Laurel Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Dusty Marie Narducci, Byron Moran & Eric Coris

  3. Department of Family Medicine, USF Morsani College of Medicine, 13330 Laurel Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Dusty Marie Narducci & Eric Coris

  4. Department of Internal Medicine, USF Morsani College of Medicine, 13330 Laurel Drive, Tampa, FL, 33612, USA

    Byron Moran

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  1. Jeffrey Alent
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Correspondence to Jeffrey Alent.

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Authors Jeffrey Alent, Dusty Narducci, Byron Moran, and Eric Coris declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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No financial support was received for the conduct of this study or preparation of this manuscript.

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Alent, J., Narducci, D.M., Moran, B. et al. Sternal Injuries in Sport: A Review of the Literature. Sports Med 48, 2715–2724 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-018-0990-5

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