Sports injuries are harms that arise when engaging in sports or exercise. Sports injuries can happen due to overtraining, lack of training, and unsuitable form or technique. Failure to warm up raises the risk of sports injuries. Contusions, straining, twists, tears, and broken bones can arise from sports-related injuries. Soft muscles like tendons, ligaments, fascia, and bursae may be affected. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an additional possible type of sports injury.
Acute injuries frequently occur unexpectedly while doing sports or exercise. They may effect in rapid and severe pain, the incapacity to bear weight on a limb, or powerlessness to move the affected part of the body. Chronic injuries commonly result from overuse of one part of the body over a period of time. Indicators of chronic injuries comprise soreness, dull aching pain, and pain throughout participation in the physical movement.
The sports injury treatment principally includes the R-I-C-E: Rest, Ice, Compression or pressure on the injury, and Elevation or raising the bruised area directly above the heart.
The 5 most common sports-related injuries are:
- Ankle Sprain
- Knee injury: ACL tear
- Groin pull
- Shin splints
- Hamstring strain
What are the top 5 common sports injuries and how these can be treated?
1- Ankle Sprain:
What is this: This type of injury is experienced by many athletes. It usually occurs when the foot turns inward. When this turning happens, it stretches or tears the ligaments – which are normally weak – that are present outside of the ankle.
What to do: At first, it is imperative to exercise that helps to prevent the loss of strength and flexibility and re-injury. A chiropractor guides you that which type of exercises is right for you.
When to see a doctor: It’s significant to know the exact position of the sprain. A “high ankle sprain” heals slowly and so should be checked by a chiropractor who makes sure that the lower leg bones didn’t detach. You can identify a high ankle sprain because it typically causes tenderness directly above the ankle.
2- Knee injury – ACL tear:
What is this: The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) grips the bone of the leg to the knee. ACL can tear or strain due to sudden cuts or stops or hit from the side. If there is tearing in ACL, it causes dreaded pop sound.
When to see a doctor: If you get an ACL injury, you must see the doctor. ACL tear is the most severe type among the other sports injuries. If ACL is completely torn, it requires surgery in order to remain active physically.
3- Groin pull:
What is this: The inward muscles of the thigh or groin become strained due to putting pressure in a side-to-side motion. The sports such as hockey, football, baseball, and soccer are the sports that cause groin injuries.
What you can do: Most of the groin injuries can be healed with compression, ice and taking rest. If you return to normal activities too quickly,
When to see a doctor: If a groin pull has much swelling then it should be checked by the physician.
4- Shin splints:
What are these: When a pain occurred at the front part of lower legs, the condition is called “shin splints”. The main cause of shin splints is running especially when it is vigorously done like long runs on cemented roads.
What you can do: The main treatment options include ice, over-the-counter pain medication and rest.
When to see a doctor: You must contact a chiropractor if the pain continues, even with rest. The pain is actually a condition of a stress fracture, in which the shin bone slightly breaks, but this happens rarely. If stress fractures occur, a prolonged rest of one month or further is required for healing.
5- Hamstring strain:
What is this: The three muscles that are present in the back of the thigh form this sports injury. The condition can be overstrained by actions such as hurdling (kick the leg out abruptly when running). Another common reason for hamstring strain is when you fall forward during waterskiing.
What you can do: Such injuries heal slowly because a constant stress is applied to the affected tissue from continuous walking. It will take around 6 to 12 months to heal completely. As many guys can’t be inactive for a long time so the chances of re-injury are high.
How can sports injuries be prevented?
Here are some useful tips that help to prevent the sports injury:
- An individual should wear appropriate equipment that perfectly fits his/her body. If a helmet or shoes are not fitted properly, it can be very dangerous and may cause an injury. parents shouldn’t buy such clothing or shoes that are big in size and last longer because they can harm the child who wears them.
- Escalate activity level progressively.
- Do any activity or exercise every day for 20 minutes instead of doing too much in only one day during the whole week.
- It is recommended to do stretching before and after the exercise but avoid stretching the cold muscles. Before stretching, you can do just a light warmup like jogging or jumping jacks.
- Take a rest to avoid overdoing and exhaustion, and to upsurge any physical and mental attentiveness.
- Do various exercises for your body: cardio, flexibility workouts, and strength training.
- It is very important to learn different sports that you are doing properly. Turn to coaches or knowledgeable players.
- A well-balanced diet helps to nourish the body when you exercise.
- Drinking water before, throughout and after the exercise is a must-to-do. Avoid, highly sugared, carbonated and alcoholic drinks. If you need to do exercise persistently for more than one hour, make sure to drink fluids with electrolyte substitutes.
- If you are not feeling better, take rest. If you don’t feel right for long then consult the doctor.
Conclusion:
Though the deterrence of all sports injuries is impossible, athletes and fitness fanatics can decrease their risk of injury by just toting the methods and tactics described above to their daily workout routine/sporting affair. This will not only raise your athletic routine to an advanced level of physical constancy but an extended career as a sportsperson as well.