title: Upper extremity overuse injuries in pediatric athletes: clinical presentation, imaging findings, and treatment.
abstract: Given the frequency and severity of overuse injuries in pediatric athletes and the potential for long-term deleterious effects, it is important for radiologists to have a comprehensive understanding of these injuries and their imaging spectrum. This article addresses chronic overuse injuries involving the upper extremity in the pediatric athlete. Chronic upper extremity overuse injuries in competitive pediatric athletes yield imaging findings that can be subtle, obvious and characteristic, or atypical. Prompt application of the appropriate imaging modalities and their accurate interpretation expedites management, returning the pediatric athlete to the playing field while minimizing long-term adverse outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proper modality selection and interpretation in the imaging evaluation of upper extremity overuse injuries in pediatric athletes include an understanding of skeletal development, mechanism of injury, and clinical presentation to provide accurate diagnoses and mitigate long-term adverse sequelae.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  After reading this article and taking the test, the reader will be able to: • Describe the clinical presentation and imaging characteristics of a variety of pediatric overuse injuries in the upper extremity including little league shoulder, rotator cuff tendinosis, gymnast wrist, climber's finger, and myriad pathologies about the elbow. • Explain how the physis plays a crucial role in pediatric overuse injury and how to evaluate physeal injury in a multimodal approach. • Understand the clinical management for certain pediatric overuse injuries, especially those that have potential for long-term and/or permanent disability.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Paz
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Geraldine H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.affiliation: Medical Department, Navy Experimental Diving Unit, Panama City Beach, FL, USA. Electronic address: jmyettojr@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Joseph M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Yetto
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Rady Children's Hospital of San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jerry R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Dwek
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, VA Medical Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Christine B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D056352:Athletes; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D012090:Cumulative Trauma Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D006801:Humans; D034941:Upper Extremity / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Athlete; Overuse; Pediatric; Upper extremity