Evaluation and management of shoulder pain in skeletally immature athletes

Shoulder pain in young athletes generally is a result of poor sports technique and overuse. A number intrinsic causes of shoulder pain have been identified. Pain may also be referred to shoulder area from cervical spine, neck and chest pathology. Overuse stress injury of the proximal humeral physis is important to recognize early in order to prevent later complications. Shoulder impingement syndrome is a general term used to describe multiple underlying lesions and relatively uncommon in young athletes. In adolescent athletes, glenohumeral instability is an important underlying pathomechanical basis for shoulder pain. Other less frequent causes reviewed here include atraumatic osteolysis of the distal clavicle, long thoracic and suprascapular neuropathies.