Bone Stress Injuries and Stress Fractures

The growing prevalence of specialization and year-round training in youth sports has contributed to an increase in bone stress injuries in children. In this episode, we discuss factors that contribute to bone stress injuries, including nutrition, hormonal health, age of the athlete and more.

Listen to pediatric experts discuss bone stress injuries

In this episode, we are joined by Aubrey Armento, MD, and Amanda McCarthy. Dr. Armento is a primary care sports medicine physician at Children’s Hospital Colorado and Associate Program Director for the Pediatric Sports Medicine fellowship at the University of Colorado.

McCarthy is a sports nutritionist at Children's Sports Medicine Center.

In this episode, our experts discuss:

• Incidence of stress fractures in pediatric athletes by age, gender, sport and site of injury
• Difference between stress fractures and stress reactions
• History and physical exam findings that are useful in defining a stress fracture
• Evaluating dietary history, eating behavior and BMI trends in pediatric athletes
• Clinical tests and imaging tools to identify stress fractures
• Treatment of bone stress injuries through rest, physical therapy and nutritional counseling
• The female athlete triad and its relationship to bone stress injuries
• Low energy availability and the nutritional component to bone stress injuries
• How oral contraceptives affect bone health and bone stress injuries
• Criteria for ordering a DEXA scan to identify patients at risk of fracture
• Risk of recurrence for bone stress injuries
• When to refer patients to pediatric sports medicine specialists

Pediatric Sports Medicine at Children’s Colorado

The Sports Medicine Center at Children’s Colorado cares for patients’ growing muscles, joints and bones through sports medicine, surgery, rehabilitation and research. Our doctors, athletic trainers, physical therapists, dietitians and other specialists work to create individualized recovery plans to maximize young athletes’ strengths and help bring them back from injury.