Back pain in the young athlete.

Back pain in the pediatric athlete is rare compared to the adult population. However, the diagnosis should be accurate as most have specific etiologies and treatment. Nearly 50% of the time, the cause of the pain is an injury to the pars interarticularis. A thorough history and careful physical examination should guide the physician to a working differential diagnosis. Based on this, appropriate laboratory and imaging work-up is pursued to arrive at a timely diagnosis and subsequent treatment regimen.