Sports can be exciting, but they also pose risks. Injuries can occur due to accidents, inadequate training practices or insufficient gear.
Most injuries can be effectively treated with rest, ice, compression and elevation. These methods reduce pain, swelling and promote faster healing.
Overuse Injuries
Overuse injuries occur when muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones become overextended through repetitive use. They can occur in any sport; however they’re particularly common among endurance activities like running, cycling and swimming.
They can also occur in athletes whose sport involves repetitive motions, like throwing a baseball or swinging the golf club. Although these injuries may be mild, they often require rest and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication to alleviate pain.
Kids are especially vulnerable to overuse injuries when they begin specializing in one sport at an early age. This could put their bodies at risk for growth arrest, which stops bone tissue development and alters how their bodies function.
Research is necessary to improve our understanding of tendon and bone healing, which will allow specific treatment strategies for managing overuse injuries. These include strengthening muscles through proper training techniques and giving adequate rest periods between workouts.
Traumatic Injuries
Sports injuries can happen while participating in physical activities like playing a sport or exercising. They may occur due to accidents, improper training techniques or wearing the wrong gear.
Common injuries include sprains and strains, swollen muscles, tendonitis, fractures; tears of ligaments or tendons, dislocations, as well as head traumas.
Sprains and strains are acute injuries that often happen suddenly, while chronic overuse conditions may show more subtle signs. To treat these injuries, physicians typically employ the RICE method – rest, ice, compression, and elevation – which helps reduce pain, reduce swelling, and expedite healing time.
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in football and other contact sports may lead to long-term issues like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). These serious injuries can cause motor control issues as well as other symptoms associated with TBI, such as drowsiness or difficulty focusing.
Concussions
Concussions occur when your brain’s soft, sensitive tissues collide with a hard object. This could be from an intense blow to the head, violent shaking or any type of force that makes the brain move back and forth inside its skull.
Your skull protects the brain by cushioning it with spinal fluid. However, a blow to the head or violent shaking can disrupt these protective mechanisms, altering nerve signals and leading to symptoms.
Most often, symptoms of concussion begin to manifest within minutes of the injury. However, some may take hours or days to manifest.
Athletes who experience a concussion should not return to play until their brains have completely recovered. Doing so puts them at risk for another impact syndrome, which may cause more severe symptoms and could even lead to permanent impairments.
Rest is the most crucial step you can take to recover from a concussion. But be mindful not to oversleep as that could make you more susceptible to symptoms when you do get up and run again.
Fractures
Bones are strong and flexible, but they can break when someone gets hit hard or falls. Additionally, bones are especially susceptible to breaking during athletic activities like football or boxing – high impact sports that place a heavy demand on them.
Fractures can occur in any bone, but are most frequently found in the wrist, hand, ankle, foot and collarbone. Fractures may also develop in bones weakened due to conditions like osteoporosis.
Fractures occur when a bone breaks or splits through its skin. X-rays can tell you whether or not your bone has fractured and how severe the break is.
Most fractures will heal on their own once repositioned and secured with a cast or brace. In some instances, surgery may be required to insert plates, pins or screws for extra support while the bones heal.
Some fractures are displaced, meaning the pieces of your bone have moved so much during the break that they no longer align correctly. Displaced fractures require more attention and may need a longer recovery time than non-displaced ones.