Basketball injuries in children

Basketball is a popular, worldwide sport played outdoors and indoors year-round. Patterns of injury are related to abrupt changes in the athlete's direction, jumping, contact between athletes, the hard playing surface and paucity of protective equipment. Intensity of play and training in the quest of scholarships and professional careers is believed to contribute to an increasing occurrence of injury. Radiologists' appreciation of the breadth of injury and its relation to imaging and clinical findings should enhance the care of these children. Some of the patterns of injury are well known to radiologists but vary due to age- and size-related changes; the growing skeleton is affected by differing susceptibilities from biomechanical stresses at different sizes. Beyond screening radiographs, the accuracy of MRI and CT has improved diagnosis and treatment plans in this realm. Investigations to detect symptoms and signs in an attempt to prevent the tragedy of sudden cardiac death in basketball players may lead to MRI and CTA studies that compel radiologists to evaluate cardiac function along with myocardial and coronary artery anatomy. Worthy of mention also is the female athlete triad of disordered eating, amenorrhea, and osteoporosis that is observed in some young women participating in this and other sports.