Radiology of sports-related injuries

Participation in organized sports and fitness activity continues to increase in the United States. As a result, more acute bone and soft-tissue injuries are occurring in this patient population. Chronic overuse syndromes are also more common today. It is important for radiologists to understand the mechanism of injury so that they can properly approach the imaging of these patients. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently the technique of choice, other imaging methods are also important and may, in certain cases, be preferred to MRI. In this review, we discuss extremity injuries by anatomic region. The spine is not included. A tailored imaging approach to each anatomic region and type of injury is discussed.