CCSP Pediatric & Adolescent Sports Medicine Questions and Answers Flashcards

Which growth plate region is most vulnerable to injury in skeletally immature athletes and should be assessed before assuming ligamentous sprain?

Answer: Physeal (epiphyseal growth plate)

The physis is the weakest link in a young athlete's musculoskeletal system, making physeal fractures more likely than ligamentous injuries under the same mechanism.

Little Leaguer's shoulder is a stress injury affecting which structure in youth baseball pitchers?

Answer: Proximal humeral physis

Repetitive overhead throwing stresses the proximal humeral growth plate, causing a physeal stress reaction known as Little Leaguer's shoulder.

Osgood-Schlatter disease involves traction apophysitis at which anatomical site?

Answer: Tibial tubercle apophysis

Repetitive quadriceps pull on the developing tibial tubercle causes inflammation and fragmentation at that apophysis in active adolescents.

The Salter-Harris classification is used to describe fractures involving the:

Answer: Growth plate (physis) in children

The Salter-Harris system classifies physeal fractures in pediatric patients from Type I (through physis) to Type V (crush), guiding prognosis.

Which condition describes painful hip caused by femoral head slipping off the femoral neck, most common in overweight adolescent males?

Answer: Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE)

SCFE occurs when the capital femoral epiphysis displaces posteriorly and inferiorly, presenting with a limp and limited internal rotation in adolescents.

A 14-year-old gymnast presents with low back pain that worsens with extension. The most likely diagnosis is:

Answer: Spondylolysis (pars interarticularis stress fracture)

Repetitive hyperextension in young gymnasts causes fatigue fractures through the pars interarticularis, the hallmark of spondylolysis.