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• Clinical Article •
A study on associated factors of adolescent knee joint sports injuries based on MRI examinations
SHAN Haoxin  CHU Huiru  PAN Qingqing  HOU Huijuan  GU Yuhao  SHI Yanmin  XIAO Xinguang 

Cite this article as SHAN H X, CHU H R, PAN Q Q, et al. A study on associated factors of adolescent knee joint sports injuries based on MRI examinations[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(6): 118-124. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.06.015.


[Abstract] Objective To explore the associated factors of adolescent knee sport injury (KSI) with different severity levels based on MRI diagnosis.Materials and Methods Clinical and imaging data of 432 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years were retrospectively collected from June 2022 to June 2024. All subjects were divided into three groups according to the severity of knee injury: normal group (n = 174, no structural injury on MRI), low-grade injury group (n = 146, grade Ⅰ to Ⅱ cartilage injury, grade Ⅰ to Ⅱ meniscal injury, or partial ligament tear), and high-grade injury group (n = 112, grade Ⅲ to Ⅳ cartilage injury, grade Ⅲ to Ⅳ meniscal injury, complete ligament rupture or fracture). Clinical and imaging indicators including age, gender, body mass index (BMI), exercise habits (wearing protective gear and appropriate sports shoes and clothing, pre-exercise warm-up, scientific training program, post-exercise stretching), injury history, discoid meniscus, and femoral trochlear dysplasia were enrolled. Kruskal-Wallis H test and Chi-square test were adopted for univariate analysis to screen statistically significant variables, and multinomial logistic regression analysis was further used to analyze the relevant factors for different severities of knee joint injury.Results The proportions of hospitalization and surgery in the high-grade injury group were higher than those in the low-grade injury group and normal group (P < 0.05). The proportion of abnormal knee joint symptoms in the high-grade injury group was higher than that in the other two groups (P < 0.05). Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that wearing protective gear, appropriate sports shoes and sportswear during exercise, and warming up before exercise were protective factors for adolescent knee sports injuries (P < 0.05); discoid meniscus and history of injury were risk factors (P < 0.05); and trochlear dysplasia was more likely to be associated with low-grade injuries (P < 0.05).Conclusions By classifying different severity levels of injury, this study analyzed the associated factors of adolescent KSI: wearing protective gear, appropriate sports shoes, and adequate warm-up are protective factors; discoid meniscus and injury history are risk factors; trochlear dysplasia is associated with low-grade injuries.
[Keywords] adolescents；knee joint；sports injury；associated factors；discoid meniscus；femoral trochlear dysplasia；magnetic resonance imaging

SHAN Haoxin1, 2   CHU Huiru1, 2   PAN Qingqing2   HOU Huijuan1, 2   GU Yuhao1, 2   SHI Yanmin2   XIAO Xinguang2*  

1 Henan Medical University, Xinxiang 453000, China

2 Department of Radiology, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450007, China

Corresponding author: XIAO X G, E-mail: xiaoxinguang126@126.com

Conflicts of interest   None.

Received  2026-01-16
Accepted  2026-06-03
DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.06.015
Cite this article as SHAN H X, CHU H R, PAN Q Q, et al. A study on associated factors of adolescent knee joint sports injuries based on MRI examinations[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2026, 17(6): 118-124. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2026.06.015.

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