Imaging of sports injuries

Imaging sports injuries is challenging, interesting, and evolving. The use of imaging and its various modalities depends on the clinicians' and radiologists' comfort and facility with those modalities, with the clinician playing the pivotal role. Imaging can be used to make diagnoses, define prognoses, influence treatment plans, or to preoperatively assess the severity of known pathology or look for additional injuries. But, because of the prevalence of abnormal findings in the asymptomatic population, it must be the clinician who applies the imaging findings to the specific situation. The clinician also must decide on the need for imaging; no imaging should be undertaken if it does not affect the clinical decision making. In sports injuries, just as in other parts of medicine, prevention is better than cure. When an injury does occur, however, imaging can help to define it and to guide appropriate therapy.