Citation

Powell C, Jensen J, Johnson S. J. Sport Rehab. 2018; 27(6): 581-590.

Affiliation

University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Human Kinetics Publishers)

DOI

10.1123/jsr.2017-0061

PMID

29405808

Abstract

As sport participation increases globally, so will the injury-related risks. The process used to determine return-to-sport, following injury, is vital to future sport participation and injury prevention. Early specialization along with poor management of sport participation causes an increase in injury risk and potential long-term health consequences for youth athletes. Previous injury is a common intrinsic risk factor for new injuries. Identifying functional performance deficits, defined by return-to-sport criteria, minimizes these risk factors and provides athletes guidelines to return safely to sport. The purpose of this clinical commentary and literature review is to provide a summary of current concepts and clinical practices and identify functional performance measures as clinical assessment tools for return-to-play criteria in the youth population. A literature review was completed using numerous databases where 154 relevant articles were reviewed and 22 articles were included in this commentary. Of the 22 articles using functional performance measures for return-to-sport criteria, six were specific to youth, 12 had mixed populations of adults and youth, and four were normative samples for specific youth populations. The gaps in the literature pertaining to functional performance measures in the youth population are addressed and future research needs for return-to-sport criteria is identified.

Language: en