Live Life Team
Sports injury covers all injuries that occur while exercising or playing any kind of sport. Exercise and sports are essential for healthy living and for reducing risks of health conditions such as obesity, stress, stroke and heart diseases. However, exercise can cause injuries especially if one does not warm up before or cool down after exercising or does not use appropriate safety equipment.
Certain sports need to be supervised by specific professionals or who can provide immediate medical aid in case of an emergency.
Most sports injuries are accidental, while in a few these could be through overuse, like a strain, sprain or fracture to a body part that has been repeatedly used. Examples are professional athletes are vulnerable to leg injury and javelin thrower is prone to shoulder and arm injury, due to continual use of the same body part.
Causes
Sports injuries, in general, can be attributed to inadequate warming up prior to an exercise or sport, improper use of equipment or overlooking the safety measures that one should be undertaking for any particular sport. Intense training schedules and overuse of muscles during a sport can put the professional athlete at a high risk of injury. Children also belong to the high risk category as their bones and muscles are still under development.
The recurring and rigorous movements during exercises and sports can injure different body parts in varied ways.
Athletic injuries –the causes are outlined below with each different sport
Runners – have high risk of muscle strains in lower half of body, particularly lower back and legs. Injuries that can occur are ankle damage, ligament tear, calf tendon tears and Achilles tendon rupture.
Throwers (example, javelin) – high risk to injuries in upper body parts like shoulders, arms, wrists and elbows.
Sports involving jumping action – high risk areas are spine and lower limbs. Common injuries include overuse damage to ligaments and tendons of the knees and Achilles.
Cricket injuries – head injuries, due to fast bowling, are a common occurrence in cricket, especially competitive and professional level. There is a high risk of spine and back injuries like fractures and muscle strains. Knee ligament damage and cartilage injuries are also possible.
Football injuries – cuts and scrapes, fractures in limbs, boot stud injuries, ankle sprains and knee cartilage damage are commonly seen injuries in football players, mainly due to constant twisting actions and sudden change in directions.
Gymnastics injuries – most of the serious injuries related to this sport are due to improper training and lack of safety equipment. Spinal injuries are most common occurrence as the sport entails major impact landings, twisting body into unusual shapes and back bending or hyperextension. Serious conditions like spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis can develop, which require surgical treatment.
Racquet sports injuries – These sports include tennis, squash and badminton. The common injuries include cuts and bruises, fractures and muscular strains as it involves falling on rough and tough surfaces. Eye injuries are a risk with squash as the ball travels at very high speeds.
