This chapter will outline the five phases of rehabilitation for the treatment of young athletes to guide the clinician’s decision-making throughout the rehabilitation process. Understanding the goals of each phase will help the clinician formulate an appropriate treatment plan.

This chapter will cover musculoskeletal pathologies that are unique to the growing patient, including growth plate injuries, osteochondral lesions, and apophyseal injuries. Understanding how these pathologies present will improve the clinician’s assessment and differential diagnosis.

This chapter will teach the clinician how to determine age in the young athlete/patient. Understanding periods of rapid growth and development will help guide the appropriate selection of treatment interventions.

Assessment and treatment of movement pattern dysfunction is at the forefront of pediatric rehabilitation. This chapter will teach motor control strategies to help the clinician formulate a treatment plan for the correction of movement pattern dysfunction.

This chapter will review practical assessment techniques for the upper quarters. These techniques will help the clinician quantify observations, determine appropriateness of interventions, and assess the efficacy of the interventions.

This chapter will review practical assessment techniques for the lower quarters. These techniques will help the clinician quantify observations, determine appropriateness of interventions, and assess the efficacy of the interventions.

This chapter will review practical assessment techniques for posture. These techniques will help the clinician determine appropriateness and efficacy of interventions. Additionally, screening for scoliosis for appropriate referral will be discussed.

This chapter will cover the implementation of assessment tools to evaluate motor skill competency in the young athlete/patient. As pediatric/adolescent clinicians, screening for motor skill deficiency is critically important in identifying youth with low motor competency.

This chapter will instruct the clinician on how to implement standardized assessments of strength and fitness in the young athlete/patient. Strength and fitness are important components to ensuring a full and safe return to sport for many of our young athlete patients and thus should be included in the assessment.

This chapter will review the benefits of youth resistance training, how to determine resistance training readiness, and how to safely begin a resistance training program. Understanding these concepts will help the clinician prescribe appropriate treatment interventions.

This chapter will cover pertinent anatomy and common mechanisms of upper extremity injury for the adolescent athlete. Having a comprehensive understanding of the musculoskeletal anatomy, including areas of growth centers and musculature attachment, can help guide clinicians in the rehabilitation of the adolescent athlete.

This chapter will cover specific examination tools to help guide the clinician’s evaluation process for the adolescent athlete with an upper extremity injury. The examination tools include special testing for the shoulder and elbow, flexibility measurements, considerations for strength testing, and evidence-based return-to-sport testing.

This chapter will cover specific treatment considerations for use when treating the adolescent athlete for an upper extremity injury. Treatment interventions will include manual therapy, therapeutic exercise, and neuromuscular reeducation strategies to implement to efficiently return the patient to sport.

This chapter will cover different criteria for returning the adolescent athlete rehabilitating from an upper extremity injury to sport. The chapter will cover evidence-based functional testing and return-to-play rates from current literature.

This chapter will introduce clinicians to a variety of spine-specific conditions that frequently affect adolescent athletes and how they relate to typical anatomical alignment. These conditions include scoliosis, poor posture, Scheuermann’s kyphosis, spondys, and macromastia.

This chapter will improve the clinician’s assessment of the young athlete’s strength and control of spinal movement. It will introduce and demonstrate functional assessments to assist with the evaluation of spinal conditions to improve clinical decision-making. These assessments will be related back to typical anatomical alignments and common postural faults seen with these patients.

This chapter will detail treatment modifications based on structural changes through the five phases of rehab. It will describe effective injury prevention strategies for pediatric/adolescent athletes with spinal conditions. A case study will also be presented and reviewed. The case presentation will detail treatment modifications based on the patient’s structural and postoperative changes through the five phases of rehab.

This chapter will examine common hip and pelvis pathologies unique to the pediatric/adolescent athlete and the role of rehabilitation specialists. The chapter will examine dysfunctional movement patterns associated with pediatric/adolescent hip and pelvic conditions, including hip instability, labral tears, hip impingement, muscle strains, pelvic apophyseal injuries, and red flag conditions.

This chapter will implement functional assessments for the evaluation of pediatric/adolescent athletes with hip and pelvic conditions to improve clinical decision-making.

This chapter will implement functional assessments in the evaluation of pediatric/adolescent dancers to improve clinical decision-making. It will detail how to select dance-specific screening tools for injury risk identification and dance participation clearance.

This chapter will review the epidemiology, diagnosis, and clinical presentation of ACL injuries in the pediatric and adolescent athlete. Understanding how ACL injuries occur in the young athlete can provide the clinician important insights pertaining to secondary injury prevention and return-to-sport rehabilitation.

This chapter will improve the clinician’s assessment of movement pattern dysfunction in the young athlete during frequently performed athletic tasks. The clinician will be introduced to several standardized qualitative movement assessment tools that can be used for clinical decision-making.

This chapter will introduce a task-based rehabilitation protocol for postoperative ACL reconstruction in the young athlete. Using a task-based protocol with functional testing for progression between phases will ensure that the patient is progressing appropriately through the rehabilitation process.

This chapter will introduce a battery of return-to-sport tests to guide return-to-sport decision-making after ACL reconstruction in the young athlete. Understanding the key components to determining return-to-sport readiness is a critical component to reducing second ACL injury incidence.

This chapter will review the key components of an effective ACL injury prevention program. Understanding the optimal design of injury-prevention programs will improve the clinician’s prescription of primary and secondary ACL injury prevention interventions.

In this chapter, a case study will be presented and reviewed. The case presentation will facilitate critical thinking, clinical movement analysis, and return-to-sport decision-making after ACL reconstruction.

Changes in shape and alignment are observable in the ankle/foot throughout childhood. These changes may influence gait and balance. This section seeks to identify some characteristics of the pediatric ankle/foot as well as compare these characteristics with those of an adult.

Orthopedic injuries to the ankle/foot complex of children are a common reason for referral to rehabilitation. Pathologies to the ankle/foot complex of a pediatric patient will be described, including those unique to skeletally immature children.

A thorough examination helps in the establishment of a baseline and assessment of efficacy for a given intervention. This chapter will review examination techniques to assess joint effusion, as well as important structures to palpate for tenderness, range of motion, strength, balance, and different coordination patterns.

Following the examination, selection of an appropriate intervention is necessary. This chapter will present a framework for interventions to address impairments identified in the examination for the ankle/foot complex. Some of interventions discussed include bracing, posting, joint mobilization, and therapeutic exercises.

How does a clinician determine a patient is ready to return to sport following an ankle/foot injury? This section will discuss how one can select the appropriate return-to-sport tests and will review different tests that have been reported in the literature.

This chapter will introduce the viewer to sports-related concussions in the adolescent athlete and review common concussion symptoms. Additionally, this chapter will cover how the cervical musculoskeletal system plays a role in concussion rehabilitation and address specific examination tools, treatment strategies, and return-to-play considerations.

This chapter will cover how the vestibular and oculomotor systems play a role in concussion rehabilitation and address specific examination tools, treatment strategies, and return-to-play considerations for the adolescent athlete rehabilitating from a sports-related concussion.

This chapter will cover how exertional tolerance and autonomic dysfunction play a role in concussion rehabilitation and address specific examination tools, treatment strategies, and return-to-play considerations for the adolescent athlete rehabilitating from a sports-related concussion.

This chapter will cover how motor function plays a role in concussion rehabilitation and address specific examination tools, treatment strategies, and return-to-play considerations for the adolescent athlete rehabilitating from a sports-related concussion.

Differences exist in the understanding and assessment of pain in the pediatric population. This chapter will discuss potential barriers to pediatric research, administration of age-appropriate pain scales, and application of modern pain models in the understanding of a pediatric patient’s pain.

Psychosocial factors may affect one’s recovery. Additionally, changes in the central nervous system may influence the efficacy of activities performed in the rehabilitation setting. This chapter will review some of these psychosocial factors, their role in recovery, and interventions to improve outcomes associated with therapeutic exercises.

The prescription of exercises for patients with persistent pain requires special considerations. Two common approaches in the prescription of exercises are graded exposure and graded exercises. This chapter will describe the differences between the two approaches and provide examples of each.

This chapter will dive into specific anatomical characteristics for adolescent overhead athletes. These anatomical considerations include pertinent musculature attachments and specific growth centers. Additionally, this chapter will cover common mechanisms of injury in the overhead athlete and specific risk factors that adolescent athletes can be exposed to.

This chapter will provide the viewer with evidence-based examination tools and treatment strategies for the adolescent overhead athlete. The examination tools include measures for range of motion, strength, flexibility, and neuromuscular control. The treatment strategies will include examples of interventions that can be applied to each of the examination categories to include therapeutic exercise, manual therapy, and neuromuscular reeducation.

This chapter will address return-to-play considerations for the adolescent overhead athlete. The viewer will be introduced to criteria and time-based considerations for when to begin a sport-specific interval program for the overhead adolescent athlete. This chapter will conclude with a discussion with other physical therapists regarding return to sport for the overhead adolescent athlete.

This chapter will identify the role of the rehabilitation specialist and examine common conditions and injuries unique to the pediatric/adolescent dancer. These conditions include generalized joint hypermobility, low back pain, spondylolysis, labral tear/FAI, snapping hip, anterior knee pain, ankle/foot tendinopathies, anterior/posterior ankle impingement, ankle sprains, and hallux valgus/sesamoid pathology.

This chapter will apply treatment strategies specific to the dancer for the affected body region and analyze dysfunctional movement patterns associated with pediatric/adolescent dancers.

This chapter will implement functional assessments in the evaluation of pediatric/adolescent dancers to improve clinical decision-making. It will detail how to select dance-specific screening tools for injury risk identification and dance participation clearance.