ABSTRACT
Pediatric and adolescent sports medicine is a relatively new and rapidly growing eld. It has developed in response to the explosion of organized sports participation for children that has occurred over the past several decades. The participation of girls in sports has increased dramatically since the passage of Title IX in 1972, raising specic concerns with regard to the health consequences of sports participation for young girls. In certain sports, such as gymnastics, gure skating, swimming, and tennis, young girls in particular manifest a unique ability to excel on an international level during the pubertal years. We have also witnessed the emergence of the elite child athlete. Children are specializing at younger ages in one specic sport and training exclusively in that sport year-round. In addition, training programs are becoming increasingly rigorous, and it is quite common to nd children training multiple hours
each day, with regimens of intensity equivalent to those formerly demanded only of adult athletes (Table 64.1).
