Overview of Injuries with Racket Sports in Pediatric and Adolescent Population: A Narrative Review

Objectives: The popularity of racket sports has been increasing globally over recent years, with tennis remaining the most played worldwide, and pickleball rising in popularity in the United States. While there are many studies addressing the injuries associated with racket sports in adults, there is minimal data available focusing on pediatric and adolescent populations. This study aims to review various injuries associated with racket sports in pediatric and adolescent populations. Methods: Using the PubMed database, we conducted a search of studies completed in the most recent 10 years that addressed injuries due to racket sports in age groups up to 18 years old, as well as adult studies that included pediatric and adolescent populations. Results: 66 studies met our inclusion criteria, with 18 of these being descriptive studies. The most common injuries reported in the studies were lower extremity injuries, specifically knee and ankle injuries. Upper extremity injuries were the next most common, specifically shoulder injuries. Most of the studies reported multiple musculoskeletal injuries as opposed to just one. Tennis was found to be the racket sport that causes the highest number of injuries, as well as the most severe injuries. Conclusions: There are not many studies on musculoskeletal injuries from racket sports in pediatric and adolescent populations. This review found tennis to be the sport with the highest number of injuries and most severe injuries. There is a significant amount of physical and mental growth occurring during childhood and adolescence, therefore more kinematic studies should be done pertaining to racket sports, which will hopefully help with injury prevention in these age groups.