[Bone maturation and osteoarticular lesions in top level sportsmen. Apropos of 105 cases].

At the time of the European Gymnastics Championships (Lyon, 1980), X-rays of the left wrist were taken in 105 high level junior athletes. Most importantly, we found a delay in bone age in 73% of the boys and in 78% of the girls, which is probably related to an unbalanced diet and to repeated micro-trauma to the growing epiphyses. In particular, we observed traumatic lesions at the distal extremity of the radius with considerable frequency (83% of gymnasts). They are sometimes accompanied by cubital lesions and they are due to an increased fragility in the epiphyso-metaphyseal region due to the delay in bone maturation.