Sports Related Injuries

Sports are a very popular part of today’s society. Whether people are engaged in sports for exercise, for fun, or by cheering on their favorite team, they are a very important part of today’s culture. Although sports can be very good for your body and health, they can also be harmful to you. There are many sports-related injuries that are unfortunately very common today. For these many injuries, there are also many precautions and treatments you can use.

The most common injuries include contusions, sprains, strains, dislocations, and fractures. A contusion, more commonly known as a bruise, is an injury to the soft tissue caused by a force to this tissue that will result in pain, swelling, and discoloration. A sprain is a twisting injury to a ligament, which is a tough cord of tissue that connects muscles to muscles. Sprains are most common to affect ankles, knees, or wrists. A strain is an injury to a muscle or a tendon. A tendon is a tough cord of tissue attaching muscles to bones. Strains are usually caused by overuse of the muscle or tendon, force, or stretching. A dislocation occurs most commonly in the shoulder and fingers. This occurs when an extreme force is applied to a ligament causing the ends of two bones to separate. A fracture is a break in the bone that is caused by a blow or a fall. Two types of fractures are a simple fracture, in which the bone is broken but the skin is not cut through, and a compound fracture, where the bone is broken and it comes through the skin.

There are four steps to treating sprains and strains. That is R.I.C.E: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Very bad sprains may require surgery to put the ligament back together so it may heal. To treat a dislocation, your doctor may have to put the joint back in place so it can heal properly. Then you should follow the steps of R.I.C.E. Unlike sprains and strains that may take a few weeks at the most to heal, a fracture may take several weeks or months. To heal a fracture, a cast or splint should be used to hold the bone in place as it grows back together.

One of the most common problems involving the knee joint is a tear in the ACL. The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is a ligament that connects the tibia to the femur. It is one of the four ligaments that are crucial to the stability of the knee joint. The ACL specifically prevents the tibia from sliding too far forward, making the joint unstable and prone to dislocation. When someone experiences an injury to the ACL, they often complain of the feeling that their knee will “give out” due to the lack of stability of the knee joint when the ACL is torn. An ACL injury makes the knee more prone to arthritis and cartilage tears. When you tear your ACL, you might hear or feel a pop in your knee. There will probably be a lot of swelling in the knee area, and you might not be able to straighten your knee. This injury will most likely inhibit your ability to continue playing that sport for a while. When you initially injure your ACL, you should treat it by using R.I.C.E. and medications to reduce the pain and swelling. Crutches or a knee brace may be required in the healing process, as well as stretching and strengthening exercises after the swelling subsides. Usually after an athlete tears their ACL, they are required to have surgery if they expect to play in contact sports again that require pressure or rotating of the knee.

Another common injury is called tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis. This is the most common injury of people who complain of a pain in their elbow. It is a condition characterized by pain in the back side of the elbow and forearm, along the thumb side of the arm. The pain is caused by damage to the tendons that bend the wrist backward away from the palm. Patients who experience this injury complain of an intense burning pain in their elbow which starts in the elbow joint and travels up the arm and increasingly worsens with time. Gripping or lifting objects becomes particularly painful. To treat this injury, it is best to see a doctor who can perform a physical examination to determine if the injury can be diagnosed as tennis elbow. To treat tennis elbow, you should stop all physical activities that cause pain and you should apply ice to the outside part of your elbow. A brace or wrist splint and anti-inflammatory medication may be recommended. If these treatments do not work, surgery is the final option, but non-operative treatments should be tried first.

Another sports-related common injury is a concussion. A concussion is caused by a large impact or jarring of the head. When a head injury occurs, it can cause the brain to move around in the skull. The brain is allowed to move around in the skull because the soft tissue of the brain is cushioned by spinal fluid inside the skull. When a head injury occurs, and the brain moves around inside the skull, it can cause bruising of the brain, the tearing of blood vessels, and damage to the nerves. This damage to the brain can lead to many symptoms of a concussion. Some of these symptoms include lightheadedness, confusion, memory loss, temporary loss of consciousness, changes in vision, changes in breathing, bad balance, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. These symptoms are usually temporary, but they make the athlete more vulnerable to future injury. A concussion can be diagnosed by an MRI or CT Scan. Concussions are cured by medical treatment and early recognition of the concussion. The athlete should not return to participating in a contact sport while they are still experiencing symptoms from the concussion. This can lead to sever injury including the paralyzing of arms or legs, convulsions, a worsening headache, or confusion.

The sports-related injuries mentioned above, and many others, can be somewhat prevented by taking necessary precautions when playing sports or exercising. Precautions to take before your work out to decrease the chance of injury are warming up and stretching. Warm muscles are less prone to get injured and proper warm-up activities and an essential prevention to injury. Some ways to warm up your muscles are jogging, walking, doing jumping jacks, etc.; just a short, easy, slow-paced exercise to warm your muscles up. Then you should stretch after your muscles are warmed up. A few simple stretches can help to maintain overall flexibility, reduce the risk of injury, and improve overall exercise performance. When you stretch, you should slowly get into a stretch position and hold it until you feel resistance, not pain, and release after about thirty seconds.

Some precautions to take during your work out are to increase the difficulty of your work out gradually, exercise regularly, follow the rules of the sport, use equipment correctly, and listen to your body. For your workout,