Citation

Wood AM, Robertson GA, Rennie L, Caesar BC, Court-Brown CM. Injury 2010; 41(8): 834-838.

Affiliation

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, United Kingdom.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.injury.2010.04.008

PMID

20546743

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To examine the epidemiology of sports-related fractures in adolescents aged 10-19 years. METHODS: All fractures in adolescents presenting to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in a one-year period were prospectively documented and all sports-related fractures retrospectively examined. These two hospitals have a defined population facilitating epidemiological studies. RESULTS: There were 408 adolescent sports-related fractures giving an overall incidence of 5.63/1000/year. The gender ratio was 87/13% male/female and 84% were upper limb fractures. Thirty sports produced 22 different fracture types. Football, rugby and skiing accounted for 66.2% of the fractures. The commonest fractures were in the finger phalanges (28.7%), distal radius and ulna (23.0%) and metacarpus (12.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Sport-related fractures are common in adolescents, particularly in males. They tend to be low-energy injuries affecting the upper limb in particular. Few require operative treatment although their frequency means that they impose significant demands on orthopaedic surgeons and health systems.

Language: en