Females with abnormalities in their menstrual cycle, which may lead to low estrogen levels, are at risk for osteoporosis. Symptoms Osteoporosis does not have symptoms, and most patients do not know they have it until they have broken bones. These fractures are often at unexpected sites, like the spine, hips, and wrists, and from unexpected, minor injuries.

Patients with osteoporosis often break bones that others would not because their bones are weaker and more brittle due to their bone loss. This is why screening and additional diagnostic tests are important.

Sports Medicine Evaluation To diagnose osteoporosis, a Sports Medicine specialist may order a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry DEXA test to evaluate a person’s bone mineral density.

This result, given as “T” or “Z” scores, provide a value in comparison to healthy and age-matched controls. A result that is positive is normal, one that is between A Sports Medicine Specialist may order blood tests to look for reasons behind the osteoporosis.

In the evaluation, the physician should take a detailed diet and exercise history to evaluate for energy availability as well. Sports Medicine Treatment The physician will likely talk to patients about the recommended amount of calcium and vitamin D to be taking daily, along with the type of exercise that can help prevent additional bone loss as well as risk for fracture.

Sometimes, medications are prescribed, like bisphosphonates, to help reduce the risk of fractures in men and postmenopausal women. These are not indicated in women of childbearing age. Injury Prevention To prevent bone loss, it is important to engage in weightbearing, moderate-impact activities like walking or jogging , and strength training.

Exercises that help with balance and coordination are also an important aspect of preventing falls, and thus, preventing fractures. Tibial stress reaction in runners. Correlation of clinical symptoms and scintigraphy with a new magnetic resonance imaging grading system.

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Download references. is supported by the VA Eastern Colorado Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center GRECC , as well as R01 HL Swanson PI, grant from NHLBI. Department of Orthopedics, University of Colorado School of Medicine, E. Department of Family Medicine, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA.

Department of Medicine-Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Aubrey Armento. There were no human or animal participants directly involved in this narrative review.

Informed consent was not indicated for this narrative review. Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Springer Nature or its licensor e. a society or other partner holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author s or other rightsholder s ; author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions. Armento, A. et al. Bone Health in Young Athletes: a Narrative Review of the Recent Literature. Curr Osteoporos Rep 21 , — Download citation. Accepted : 27 April Published : 08 June Issue Date : August Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Download PDF. Abstract Purpose of Review The aim of this review is to discuss the most recent published scientific evidence regarding bone health in the pediatric athlete.

Recent Findings Pediatric athletes commonly suffer from overuse injuries to the physes and apophyses, as well as bone stress injuries, for which magnetic resonance imaging grading of the severity of injuries may be useful in guiding return to sport.

Summary Young athletes are at risk for musculoskeletal injuries unique to the growing skeleton. Strategies to Promote Bone Health in Female Athletes Chapter © Bone Health Considerations for the Adolescent Female Athlete Article 26 April Parallels with the Female Athlete Triad in Male Athletes Article 26 October Use our pre-submission checklist Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.

Introduction In , Methods We conducted a literature review in the PubMed database including only English language articles published from to present, using the following terms: bone, pediatric, adolescent, athlete, sport. Discussion Bone Injuries in Young Athletes A summary of key relevant studies on this topic area can be found in Table 1.

Table 1 Summary of recent key studies on bone injuries in young athletes Full size table. Table 2 Summary of key studies on vitamin D in young athletes Full size table. Full size image. Conclusion When approaching the pediatric athlete, clinicians and researchers should consider the unique attributes of the growing skeleton and how this relates to musculoskeletal injury incidence and risk.

References Youth sports facts: participation rates. Both of these can lead to morbidity and lost time from training and competition.

Thus, early recognition and appropriate treatment of the female athlete triad and other stress fracture risk factors are vital to preventing long-term bone health problems.

Conclusion: To optimize bone health, adequate nutrition, appropriate weightbearing exercise, strength training, and adequate calcium and vitamin D are necessary throughout life. Keywords: bone health; exercise; hormones; stress fractures; vitamin D.

Abstract Context: The health of the skeletal system is important for athletes young and old.