Wrist Injuries in Youth Athletes

Purpose of Review: To identify new evidence-based medicine regarding wrist injuries in youth athletes. Recent Findings: Worthy studies identified include reports on changing wrist injury epidemiology, increasing recognition of stress fractures, evolving pathology in scaphoid fractures, risk factors for youth overuse injuries, comparison of immobilization techniques following distal radial fractures, and benefits and risks of MRI imaging, among others. Summary: Changes in epidemiology are seen in American football, basketball, and soccer. These changes, and the potential rise of scaphoid waist fractures, are reported with theorized factors being the increasing body mass index (BMI) of today’s youth, use of synthetic turf, and changing popularity of various sports. A new study identifying overuse injury risk associated with sport specialization is discussed. Finally, MRI imaging is discussed, specifically, its reported 100% negative predictive value for scaphoid fractures, but also the potential to lead to overdiagnosis of wrist pathology.