The Adolescent Athlete: a Practical Approach

Good health should be a goal of all children and adolescents, as well as the parents and guardians who care for them. Regular physical activity is part of achieving this goal. Sports can provide manifold benefits, including fitness, motor skill development, teamwork, and of course, fun. As with any pursuit that provides such benefits, however, there are risks involved, p- ticularly for growing athletes. Physicians and other health professionals caring for active children should be able to provide appropriate care and advice for sport and fitness related medical issues. This book is written as a practical guide for those of us who provide care for young athletes. The focus ison musculoskeletal injuries that occur in this unique population, as well as conditions that may present as a musculosk- etal injury, but may have more serious consequences. The first section of the book focuses on rehabilitation and diagnostic imaging of musculoskeletal conditions in adolescents. The secondsection organized according to a- tomical region addresses specificinjuries that adolescents may sustain as a result of sport/activity participation. Each of these body part specific ch- ters begins with a review of the relevant anatomy, followed by details of clinical evaluation. Specific injuries, such as acute and chronic injuries, are described in detail, including the management/treatment of each condition.

Lyle J. Micheli, MD, one of the world’s foremost authorities on sports medicine, is an associate clinical professor of orthopaedic surgery at Harvard Medical School and director and co-founder of the Sports Medicine Division at Children’s Hospital Boston, which is internationally recognized for clinical care and research in pediatric and adolescent sports medicine. Noted as an active clinician and teacher, Dr. Micheli presents at the AAOS, ACSM, and NATA. He has written more than 100 book chapters (contributor to Cole & Malek, Articular Cartilage Lesions) and has co-edited several titles, including the Oxford Textbook of Sports Medicine, 2/e (Oxford, 1998, ISBN 0192627171) and The Sports Medicine Bible for Young Athletes (SourceBooks, 2001, ISBN 1570717109). Dr. Micheli serves on the editorial and advisory boards of more than 20 journals, including Spine and the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine, and he has published more than 200 articles.

Laura Purcell, MD, received her medical doctorate from McMaster University, one of the world’s leading evidence-based practice centers, and completed her pediatric residency at Dalhousie University (Nova Scotia) and a sport medicine fellowship at Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic (Ontario). She is currently a primary care sport medicine physician at Fowler Kennedy and an emergency department consultant at the Children’s Hospital of Western Ontario. Dr. Purcell is chair of the Pediatric Sport and Exercise Medicine Committee of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine and president of the Pediatric Sport and Exercise Medicine Section of the Canadian Pediatric Society. She has contributed to several publications, including Paediatrics & Child Health, Pediatric Emergency Care, and Paediatric Child Health. An active educator, Dr. Purcell has been invited to speak at symposiums held by the Canadian Paediatric Society and the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine/Ontario Medical Association.