This issue of Clinics in Sports Medicine focuses on athletic injuries in the military population. The young, active individuals participate in a wide range of athletic and military activities that results in high injury rates as well as extreme performance demands. Military sports medicine physicians have provided many advances in the care of athletic injuries in the past and continue to pursue this today.

Sports Rehabilitation is a multi-disciplinary approach to treat injuries sustained through sports participation so the athlete can regain normal pain-free mobility. The primary goal is to return to pre-injury activities, whether the athlete is a professional, amateur or casual player. Articles to include ACL/Knee rehabilitation, Foot Intrinsics and Balance, Hamstring rehabilitation in runners, Rehabilitation of the throwing athlete, Concussion rehabilitation and many more!

A sports cardiologist evaluates affected athletes and suggests the most appropriate treatment options that may allow them to stay active in sports. This issue will discuss the following topics: Cardiovascular Adaptation and Remodeling to Rigorous Athletic Training, The Historical Perspective of Athletic Sudden Death, The ECG in Elite Athletes, The Management of Athletes with Congenital Heart Disease, Genetic testing in athletesThe Impact of Sports Cardiology on the Practice of Sports Medicine and many more!

This issue of Clinics in Sports Medicine will discuss Athletic Injuries of the Hip. Guest edited by Drs. Dustin Richter and F. Winston Gwathmey, this issue will cover a number of related topics that are important to practicing clinicians. This issue is one of four selected each year by our series Consulting Editor, Dr. Mark Miller. The volume will include articles on: Evaluation of the athlete with hip pain; Hip imaging and injections; Hip dysplasia; Hip instability and dislocation; Hip flexor and iliopsoas disorders; Hip abductor and peritrochanteric space conditions; Proximal hamstring injuries; Stress fractures; Avulsion injuries; The adolescent athlete; Sex based differences in injury rates and strength and conditioning; and Rehabilitation of soft tissue injuries of the hip and pelvis, among others.

During the course of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars, military orthopedic surgeons have made significant technical and philosophic changes in the treatment of musculoskeletal combat casualties. The widespread use of individual and vehicular body armor, evolution of enemy tactics to include its reliance on improvised explosive devices, and the effectiveness of treatment rendered at military treatment facilities have resulted in a large burden of complex orthopedic injuries. Combat Orthopedic Surgery: Lessons Learned in Iraq and Afghanistan represents and recognizes the latest advances in musculoskeletal surgical care performed to treat today’s US military servicemembers. Editors LTC Brett D. Owens, MD and LTC Philip J. Belmont Jr., MD have brought together the leading military orthopedic surgeons to relay their clinical orthopedic surgery expertise, as well as to discuss how to provide optimal care for combat casualties both initially in theater and definitively at tertiary care facilities within the United States. Combat Orthopedic Surgery: Lessons Learned in Iraq and Afghanistan is divided into five sections, with the first being devoted to an overview of general topics. The second section covers scientific topics and their clinical application to musculoskeletal combat casualties. The final three sections are clinically focused on the upper extremity, lower extremity, and spine and pelvic injuries, with many illustrative case examples referenced throughout. Most Clinical Chapters Contain: • Introduction/historical background • Epidemiology • Management in theater • Definitive management • Surgical techniques • Outcomes • Complications Combat Orthopedic Surgery: Lessons Learned in Iraq and Afghanistan will be the definitive academic record that represents how orthopedic surgeons currently manage and treat musculoskeletal combat casualties.

Presents targeted, up-to-date information on the mostcommon injuries experienced by athletes, including : Footand ankle injuries, knee injuries, leg injuries, spineinjuries, hand and wrist injuries, shoulder injuries, andhead injuries, and more.

This issue of Clinics in Sports Medicine, Guest Edited by Drs. Lyle Micheli and Pierre d'Hemecourt, focuses on Spinal Injuries in the Athlete. Articles in this outstanding issue include: Sport Specific Biomechanics of Spinal Injuries in the Athlete (Throwing Athletes, Rotational Sports and Contact-collision); Sport Specific Biomechanics of Spinal Injuries in the Athlete (Dance, Figure Skating and Gymnastics); Back Pain in the Pediatric and Adolescent Athlete; Spinal Deformity and Congenital Abnormalities; The Young Adult Spine; The Aging Spine; Thoraco-lumbar Spine: Trauma and spinal deformity: Indications for Surgical Fusion and Return to Play Criteria; Overview of spinal interventions; Congenital and Acute Cervical Spine injuries with Return to Play Criteria; Degenerative Cervical Spine Disease; Spinal cord abnormalities; Infectious, Inflammatory, and Metabolic Diseases of the Spine; and Spinal tumors.

Foot and ankle injuries are commonplace in competitive sports. Close attention is required during examination to accurately identify such injuries. Early diagnosis and management of these injuries are critical. Articles included in this issue are Chronic Ankle Instability (Medial and Lateral), Disorders of the Flexor Hallux Longus and Os Peroneum, Heel Pain in the Athlete (calcaneal Stress fracture, Baxter’s Neuritis, Plantar Fasciitis), Stress Fractures of the Metatarsals and Navicular, Peroneal Tendon Disorders, and many more!

In the past decade, few subjects at the intersection of medicine and sports have generated as much public interest as sports-related concussions - especially among youth. Despite growing awareness of sports-related concussions and campaigns to educate athletes, coaches, physicians, and parents of young athletes about concussion recognition and management, confusion and controversy persist in many areas. Currently, diagnosis is based primarily on the symptoms reported by the individual rather than on objective diagnostic markers, and there is little empirical evidence for the optimal degree and duration of physical rest needed to promote recovery or the best timing and approach for returning to full physical activity. Sports-Related Concussions in Youth: Improving the Science, Changing the Culture reviews the science of sports-related concussions in youth from elementary school through young adulthood, as well as in military personnel and their dependents. This report recommends actions that can be taken by a range of audiences - including research funding agencies, legislatures, state and school superintendents and athletic directors, military organizations, and equipment manufacturers, as well as youth who participate in sports and their parents - to improve what is known about concussions and to reduce their occurrence. Sports-Related Concussions in Youth finds that while some studies provide useful information, much remains unknown about the extent of concussions in youth; how to diagnose, manage, and prevent concussions; and the short- and long-term consequences of concussions as well as repetitive head impacts that do not result in concussion symptoms. The culture of sports negatively influences athletes' self-reporting of concussion symptoms and their adherence to return-to-play guidance. Athletes, their teammates, and, in some cases, coaches and parents may not fully appreciate the health threats posed by concussions. Similarly, military recruits are immersed in a culture that includes devotion to duty and service before self, and the critical nature of concussions may often go unheeded. According to Sports-Related Concussions in Youth, if the youth sports community can adopt the belief that concussions are serious injuries and emphasize care for players with concussions until they are fully recovered, then the culture in which these athletes perform and compete will become much safer. Improving understanding of the extent, causes, effects, and prevention of sports-related concussions is vitally important for the health and well-being of youth athletes. The findings and recommendations in this report set a direction for research to reach this goal.

Injury is recognized as a major public health issue worldwide. In most countries, injury is the leading cause of death and disability for children and young adults age 1 to 39 years. Each year in the United States, injury claims about 170,000 lives and results in over 30 million emergency room visits and 2.5 million hospitalizations. Injury is medically defined as organ/tissue damages inflicted upon oneself or by an external agent either accidentally or deliberately. Injury encompasses the undesirable consequences of a wide array of events, such as motor vehicle crashes, poisoning, burns, falls, and drowning, medical error, adverse effects of drugs, suicide and homicide. The past two decades have witnessed a remarkable growth in injury research, both in scope and in depth. To address the tremendous health burden of injury morbidity and mortality at the global level, the World Health Organization in 2000 created the Department of Injury and Violence Prevention, which has produced several influential reports on violence, traffic injury, and childhood injury. The biennial World Conference on Injury Control and Safety Promotion attracts a large international audience and has been successfully convened nine times in different countries. In the United States, the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control became an independent program of the federal Centers for Disease Prevention and Control in 1997. Since then, each state health department has created an office in charge of injury prevention activities and over a dozen universities have established injury control research centers. This volume will fill an important gap in the scientific literature by providing a comprehensive and up-to-date reference resource to researchers, practitioners, and students working on different aspects of the injury problem and in different practice settings and academic fields.