Abstract des Autors

Four thousand eighty one young boy soccer players ranging from age 7 to 12 were surveyed with a hope to establish the specific causative factors and the preventive measures for spondylolysis. Four hundred ninety six (12%) out of these players were found to have lumbago. Two hundred forty seven out of these boys with lumbago received X-ray examinations on which 122 were found to have lumbar lesions. These included spondylolysis, concave vertebral endplates and narrowed disc, the incidence of which were 30.8%, 21.2%, and 8.1%, respectively. Spondylolysis occurred most commonly at L-3 and was classified into fissure type (56 cases) and pseudoarthrosis type (20 cases). The occurrence of spondylolysis was related well to the duration of the training time per week. On X-ray examinations, spondylolysis was found to be correlated closely with trapezoid deformity at L-3 and increased lumbar lordosis. Thirty patients (71%) out of 42 with fissure type showed solid healing of their pars defecta as a result of conservative therapy. The results of the present study indicated that young soccer players should limit their training time to 1.5 hours per day and to 3 days per week in order to prevent spondylolysis. Verf.-Referat