If you are active in any physical sport, you are at greater risk for physical injuries. The injuries that you are at greater risk for, however, are considered to be sport related injuries. Because you need to prevent injuries, and be on the lookout for the warning signs of injury, you need to know about the 10 most common sport injuries.
Prevention and Treatment for 10 Common Sport Injuries
Different sport injuries have different treatment options, but when it comes to prevention, they all have one thing in common. If you stretch and warm your muscles before participating in any sport or exercise, your chance of injury decreases. If you take the time to cool the muscles properly after sport or injury, you decrease the chance of injury even more.
The stretching that you need to do depends solely on the type of sport that you will be doing, but experts agree that warming and stretching all of the muscles in the body reduces the chance of injury the greatest.
In terms of treatment, one of the biggest mistakes that an athlete can make is to not get treatment soon enough for the injury. The second mistake is to not allow enough time to pass, so that the injury can truly heal, before becoming active in the sport again. Both of these issues will work against you, and in the long run, you will be doing yourself more harm than good. The harm that you do from lack of treatment or from lack of enough treatment could result in permanent damage.
The 10 Most Common Sport Injuries to Be Aware of
- Pulled Muscles – Pulled muscles happen often in sports, and the cause is usually due to overuse of the muscle, or to falling. Warming up can help to prevent this, but it can happen even when the muscles are properly warmed.
- Cramped Muscles – These are also known as charley horses, and they are very painful. These cramps usually occur in the calf of the leg. They are usually caused by dehydration, or from a lack of potassium.
- Back Strain – This is a common problem for people who lift weights, or who must move their bodies in unnatural ways during their sport. This can be avoided by warming up properly, and by keeping an eye on your posture during sports.
- Tennis Elbow – Tennis elbow can occur even if you don’t play tennis. This condition causes the muscles and tendons in the forearm to become inflamed. This occurs when those muscles and tendons are overused.
- Shin Splints – If you are an active person, and your shin bones start to hurt, you probably have shin splints. Shin splints are caused by running on hard surfaces, but they can also be caused from overuse of the legs. Jumping on hard surfaces can also be the cause.
- Runner’s Knee – Nobody is really sure why this happens, but Runner’s Knee occurs when the kneecap becomes misaligned and essentially rubs against the cartilage wrong. This condition is indicated by pain and swelling in the knee.
- Achilles Tendonitis – This tendon is in the back of the ankle, and it is the biggest tendon in the human body. When this area becomes painful or inflamed, it is essentially tendonitis, and it is caused by overuse or overstretching of that tendon.
- Sprains and Broken Bones – Wrist, knee, ankle, foot, and shoulder sprains are not uncommon in sports, and neither are broken bones. This can happen regardless of how well you warm up the muscles and tendons, and this usually happens due to a misstep or a fall.
- Frozen Shoulder – If your sport requires constant use of your shoulders, or requires you to hold your hands up over your head for long periods of time, you are at greater risk of developing Frozen Shoulder – a condition that makes it hard and painful to move the arms, at the shoulder.
- Foot Problems – Many different problems can occur with the feet if you are involved in sports. The two most common foot conditions include athlete’s foot and foot arch strain.
Educate Yourself Concerning Common Injuries for Your Sport
It is important that you have a clear understanding as to the potential injuries that are associated with the sports that you participate in specifically, as well as potential injuries that are associated with sports in general. When you have this information, you will be better equipped to prevent these problems, and be more aware of what is going on when they occur, so that you can seek proper treatment in a timely manner.
Sport injuries may seem like minor inconveniences, but they are more than that. They can be very serious, and can alter your physical state for the rest of your life if they are not properly attended to.
