Sports Injuries

The injuries that take place to sportspersons while participating in sports events, competitions, training sessions, or organized fitness activities are known to be as sports injuries. They can also arise due to the extended usage or overuse of any body part when taking part in a particular activity again and again. For example, tennis elbow is a form of repetitive stress injury at the elbow whereas runner’s knee condition is associated with running.
 
Exercise is a must need for everyone, but sometimes you can harm yourself when you play sports or exercise. The most usual reasons of an injury are:-
 
• Poor training practices or improper gear.
• Improper condition or not in good shape.
• Not warming up or stretching enough before you play or exercise.
• Inadequate fitness and physical weakness
• Inadequate skill/technique
• Inappropriate footwear and clothing
• Prior injury
• Lack of recovery.
 
The most common sports injuries are:
• Sprains and strains
• Knee injuries
• Swollen muscles
• Achilles tendon injuries
• Pain along the shin bone
• Fractures
• Dislocations
 
The two kinds of sports injuries are:-
• Acute traumatic injury – Acute injuries happen all of a sudden when playing or exercising or it involves a single blow from a single application of force like cross body block in football.
 
Acute traumatic injuries include:

• A fracture which is a crack, break, or shattering of a bone
• A bruise medically known as a contusion, caused by a direct blow, which may cause swelling and bleeding in muscles and other body tissues
• A strain is a stretch or tear of a muscle or tendon, the tough and narrow end of a muscle that connects it to a bone
• A sprain is a stretch or tear of a ligament, the tissue that supports and strengthens joints by connecting bones and cartilage
• An abrasion which is also known a scrape, and
• A laceration, a cut in the skin that is usually deep enough to require stitches
 
Signs of an acute injury include:
• Sudden, severe pain
• Inflammation
• Not being able to place weight on a leg, knee, ankle, or foot
• An arm, elbow, wrist, hand, or finger that is very tender
• Not being able to move a joint as normal
• Extreme leg or arm weakness
• A bone or joint that is visibly out of place.
 
• Chronic traumatic injury – Chronic injuries are commonly the result of repetitive training or playing a sport or doing exercise for a long time, such as running, overhand throwing, or serving a ball in tennis.
 
Chronic traumatic injury includes:
• Stress fractures characterized as tiny cracks in the bone’s surface often caused by repetitive overloading, like in the feet of a basketball player who is continuously jumping on the court
 
• Tendinitis is swelling of the tendon caused by repetitive stretching
 
• Epiphysitis or apophysitis is a growth plate overload injuries such as Osgood-Schlatter disease
 
Signs of a chronic injury include:
• Pain when you play
• Pain when you exercise
• A dull ache when you rest
• Swelling.