title: Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries in Children and Adolescents.
abstract: Dramatic increases in youth competitive athletic activity, early sport specialization, and year-round training and competition, along with increased awareness of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries in children, have led to a commensurate increase in the frequency of ACL tears in the skeletally immature. Recent understanding of the risks of nonoperative treatment and surgical delay have supported a trend toward early operative treatment. This article discusses treatment strategies for ACL injuries in children and adolescents, and offers our preferred treatment strategy for skeletally immature youth athletes with ACL tears.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Orthopaedic Surgery Service, Hospital for Special Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021, USA.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Fabricant
authors.affiliation: Division of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: mininder.kocher@childrens.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Mininder S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kocher
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D016118:Anterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000601:surgery*; D000070598:Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D056352:Athletes; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D019637:Orthopedic Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: ACL; Anterior cruciate ligament; Hamstring; Iliotibial band; Pediatric sports; Young athlete; Youth athlete