What Are Sports Injuries?
Sports injuries are injuries that typically occur while participating in organized sports, competitions, training sessions, or organized fitness activities.
These injuries may occur in teens for a variety of reasons, including improper training, lack of appropriate footwear or safety equipment, and rapid growth during puberty. There are two general types. The first type is an acute traumatic injury.
Acute traumatic injuries usually involve a single blow from a single application of force — like getting a cross-body block in football
Acute traumatic injuries include:
- A fracture — a crack, break, or shattering of a bone
- A bruise, known medically as a contusion — caused by a direct blow, which may cause swelling and bleeding in muscles and other body tissues
- A strain — 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 — a stretch or tear of a ligament, the tissue that supports and strengthens joints by connecting bones and cartilage
- An abrasion — a scrape
- A laceration — a cut in the skin that is usually deep enough to require stitches
The second type of sports injury is an overuse or chronic injury. Chronic injuries are those that happen over a period of time. Chronic injuries are usually the result of repetitive training, such as running, overhand throwing, or serving a ball in tennis.
These include:
- Stress fractures — tiny cracks in the bone’s surface often caused by repetitive overloading (such as in the feet of a basketball player who is continuously jumping on the court)
- Tendinitis — inflammation of the tendon caused by repetitive stretching
Taking Care of Sports Injuries
If your pain progressively increases with activity (what sports medicine doctors call an “upward crescendo”) and causes swelling, limping, or loss of range of motion, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible.
The most important thing to do when you suspect you are injured is to stop doing whatever sport has caused the injury right away and go see a doctor. For more severe or complicated injuries, it may be best to see a doctor who specializes in sports medicine.
One of three things will happen next. Your doctor may:
- recommend that you not play while you heal
- that you play and use a protective device (a knee brace or wrist guard, for example)
- that you undergo rehabilitation (physical therapy)
Playing Safe
What can you do to protect yourself from getting hurt again? Use protective gear — such as helmets for contact sports like football — that is appropriate to the specific sport.
When you return to play, you might need some new protective gear, including modified shoes (such as those with inserts or arch supports or those designed for use in a particular sport), tapings (tape used to wrap a knee, for example, to provide extra support), knee and elbow braces, and mouth guards. These devices help support and protect your body part from strains, direct blows, and possible re-injury.
So play, but play safe. Try to learn from your experience and do the things that can help you avoid getting hurt again.
