About this episode

This episode discusses the unique challenges in caring for young athletes whose bones are still growing, focusing on injury patterns and prevention strategies.

Kids aren't little adults — and in pediatric sports medicine, that difference shapes everything. In this episode of Stanford Medcast, host Dr. Ruth Adewuya speaks with Dr. Kevin G. Shea, Chambers-Okamura Endowed Professor of Pediatric Orthopedics and Division Chief of Pediatric Orthopedics and Sports Medicine at Stanford Medicine Children's Health, about caring for athletes whose bones are still growing. Dr. Shea explains why open growth plates make young athletes vulnerable to different injury patterns than adults, why ACL tears, meniscus injuries, and osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) are being seen more often and at younger ages, and how year-round, single-sport specialization may be driving overuse injuries. He also shares how multicenter research collaborations like ROCK, PRISM, and SCORE are building prediction tools that help families weigh surgery against nonoperative healing, why criteria-based return-to-sport assessment matters during the high-risk months after surgery, and what should prompt frontline clinicians to refer a young athlete to a specialist. Whether you're a pediatrician, family physician, emergency clinician, physical therapist, athletic trainer, or…

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