Impact of sports participation on genu varum among youth: a systematic review

Genu varum occurs more frequently among young male athletes involved in high levels of physical activity, particularly adolescent male soccer players when compared to the general population. This study provides a contemporary examination of the relationship between genu varum and participation in youth sport.

A systematic review was performed following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. The literature search was conducted in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, Embase, and CINAHL databases.

Genu varum is more prevalent among athletes than among age-matched non-athlete controls and has been reported more often in male soccer players, with overloading of the proximal medial tibial growth plate proposed as a possible contributing mechanism.

Intercondylar-intermalleolar distance differed in younger age groups with some reporting negative values and some reporting positive values.