The Most Common Sports Injuries
A sports injury usually results from muscle or joint overload, incorrect training methods and/or schedule, or the use of bad equipment. We can prepare ourselves and our equipment to prevent sports injuries, but sometimes accidents do happen. We will give you an overview of the most common sports injuries.
Knee Injury
Most sports injuries are knee injuries. Most sports do involve our legs and our knees burden a lot of tension throughout the average training session. A jumper knee, runnners knee, or damage to the cruciate ligaments or meniscus are most common. Especially runners and cyclists suffer from knee problems, as do sportsmen who practice a sport like volleyball or basketball.
An acute knee injury occurs as a result of uncontrolled movement, collision or fall. Usually it is the bands or meniscus that get damaged. Most other injuries are caused by overloading the knee joint. Injuries around the meniscus and around the kneecap you see the most.
Sprained Ankle
The second most common sports injury is are ankle injuries. Especially athletes who practice sports like volleyball, hockey, or indoor football are subject to ankle injuries. It is not uncommon to sprain ones ankle without doing sports.
Most common is a sprained ankle, which occurs when the strong ligaments that support the ankle stretch beyond their limits and tear. A sprain will cause the ankle to swell (can occur on the in- or outside of the ankle) which limits the ability to move and pain.
Back and Neck Complaints
Back complaints are most common amongst sportsmen who do fitness, play hockey, or cycle. It usually concerns shooting pain or stiffness in the lower back area. Overload of the lower back muscles or a sudden rotational movement can cause muscle strain and sometimes result in a pulled muscle. Cycling or mountain biking can also cause neck problems. In these type of sports core-stability is important.
Tennis Elbow
The tennis elbow covers all complaints on the outside of the elbow. Complaints on the inside of the elbow are described as a golfer’s elbow.
A tennis elbow is a non-bacterial inflammation of the tendon tissue. Usually it concerns small cracks in the tendon tissue caused by injury or overload. A tennis elbow is most common in racket sports, but can also be developed without playing tennis, such as during weightlifting.
Calf Strain (Pulled Calf Muscle)
A calf strain gives acute pain, similar to a litereal whiplash. A calf strain is a muscle tear in the calf muscle that usually occurs during explosive and powerful movements. A pulled calf muscle occurs most often in the head of the gastrocnemius, the superficial calf muscle.
A calf strain most often occurs in middle-aged athletes. A possible explanation for this is that the muscles become less flexible and change with age. Sports where the chance of a pulled calf muscle is greatest, football, tennis, basketball and running.
Hamstring Injury
Similar to calf strain, hamstring injuries usually occur in explosive sports such as football. Research has shown that most footballers sustain a hamstring injury during the first two months of the season. Especially towards the end of a game, things go wrong: the hamstrings get too little rest.
Hamstring injuries are usually acute, causing a sharp short pain. Injuries can be partially, damaging or straining some muscle fibers, or also completely tear off your hamstring.
Achilles Tendon Injury
An injury to the achilles tendon gradually develops. It has long been thought that an inflammatory response is responsible for the pain caused by continuous overload. New studies show that a disturbed healing process often causes pain in an achilles tendon injury.
An achilles tendon injury is the most common running injury, but it is also quite common in racket sports. Athletes of middle age are more likely to suffer from an achilles tendon injury. When we get older the quality of the tendon tissue decreases. The Achilles tendon can also tear off: this often happens during sports with a lot of tempo changes and explosive movements, such as rugby and football.
Groin Injury
A groin injury (or pbalgia) is typically a men’s injury, and is a collective name for various complaints in the groin area. It regularly occurs in sports such as football, hockey and swimming.
Pain in the groin area is frustrating. The most common cause is a strain or muscle rupture of hip adductors (inside of the upper leg), inflammation of the pubic bone, and an athlete’s hernia. The latter is a fracture in a lower abdominal wall in the inguinal canal.
Preventing Sports Injuries
Recovering from sports injuries can be a tedious and burdensome process. Once we start exerting extra strain on our bodies and our muscles by doing sports (be it professionally or occasionally), we need to give our bodies rest and the maintenance it deserves.
At Pain Away Clinic, we have had numerous athletes and sportsmen who suffered from a sports injury. We have numerous athletes and sportsmen who come in for a sports massage and preperation for sports events. We recently were a sponsor at the 2018 Spartan Race in Hua Hin and 2018 FEXCO Asian Gaelic Games were we successfully treated athletes before and after the event.
Whether you are currently suffering from a sports injury, or are simply looking into innovative ways of preventing sports injuries, feel free to contact us and inquire for more information about our physical therapists and techniques to prevent sports injuries.
