Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to review the unique growth and development characteristics of the child and adolescent athlete and how these characteristics, in turn, may predispose them to increased risk of injury. It is well-known that sport participation has wide-ranging health benefits for children and youth. However, participation in sports also carries risk of injury. Unfortunately, children and youth may be particularly vulnerable to sport injury compared to adults due to such factors as growth and maturation, differential growth, age-and-maturity-associated variation, adolescent growth spurt, unique response to skeletal injury, susceptibility to heat-related injury, and sport readiness. The more frequent and intensive training and competition of young sportspeople today may create conditions under which these potential growth- and maturation-related risk factors exert their influence.
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Caine, D., Purcell, L. (2016). The Exceptionality of the Young Athlete. In: Caine, D., Purcell, L. (eds) Injury in Pediatric and Adolescent Sports. Contemporary Pediatric and Adolescent Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18141-7_1
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