Sports-Related Injuries To The Knee
Sports are a very popular part of today’s society. Whether people are engaged in sports for exercise, for fun, or by cheering on their favorite team, they are a very important part of today’s culture. Although sports can be very good for your body and health, they can also be harmful to you. There are many sports-related injuries that are unfortunately very common today. For these many injuries, there are also many precautions and treatments you can use. The most common injuries include contusions, sprains, strains, dislocations, and fractures. A contusion, more commonly known as a bruise, is an injury to the soft tissue caused by a force to this tissue that will result in pain, swelling, and discoloration. A sprain is a twisting
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injury to a ligament, which is a tough cord of tissue that connects muscles to muscles. Sprains are most common to affect ankles, knees, or wrists. A strain is an injury to a muscle or a tendon. A tendon is a tough cord of tissue attaching muscles to bones. Strains are usually caused by overuse of the muscle or tendon, force, or stretching. A dislocation occurs most commonly in the shoulder and fingers. This occurs when an extreme force is applied to a ligament causing the ends of two bones to separate. A fracture is a break in the bone that is caused by a blow or a fall. Two types of fractures are a simple fracture, in which the bone is broken but the skin is not cut through, and a compound fracture, where the bone is broken and it comes through the skin. There are four steps to treating sprains and strains. That is R.I.C.E: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Very bad sprains may require surgery to put the ligament back together so it may heal. To treat a dislocation, your doctor may have to put the joint back in place so it can heal properly. Then you should follow the steps of R.I.C.E. Unlike sprains and strains that may take a few weeks at the most to heal, a fracture may take several weeks or months. To heal a fracture, a cast or splint should be used to hold the bone in place as it grows back together. One of the most common problems involving the knee joint is a tear in the ACL.
The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is a ligament that connects the tibia to the femur. It is one of the four ligaments that are crucial to the stability of the knee joint. The ACL specifically prevents the tibia from sliding too far forward, making the joint unstable and prone to dislocation. When someone experiences an injury to the ACL, they often complain of the feeling that their knee will “give out” due to the lack of stability of the knee joint when the ACL is torn. An ACL injury makes the knee more prone to arthritis and cartilage tears. When you tear your ACL, you might hear or feel a pop in your knee. There will probably be a lot of swelling in the knee area, and you might not be able to straighten your knee. This injury will most likely inhibit your ability to continue playing that sport for a while. When you initially injure your ACL, you should treat it by using R.I.C.E. and medications to reduce the pain and swelling. Crutches or a knee brace may be required in the healing process, as well as stretching and strengthening exercises after the swelling subsides. Usually after an athlete tears their ACL, they are required to have surgery if they expect to play in contact sports again that require pressure or rotating of the …show more content…
knee. Another common injury is called tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis. This is the most common injury of people who complain of a pain in their elbow. It is a condition characterized by pain in the back side of the elbow and forearm, along the thumb side of the arm. The pain is caused by damage to the tendons that bend the wrist backward away from the palm. Patients who experience this injury complain of an intense burning pain in their elbow which starts in the elbow joint and travels up the arm and increasingly worsens with time. Gripping or lifting objects becomes particularly painful. To treat this injury, it is best to see a doctor who can perform a physical examination to determine if the injury can be diagnosed as tennis elbow. To treat tennis elbow, you should stop all physical activities that cause pain and you should apply ice to the outside part of your elbow. A brace or wrist splint and anti-inflammatory medication may be recommended. If these treatments do not work, surgery is the final option, but non-operative treatments should be tried first. Another sports-related common injury is a concussion. A concussion is caused by a large impact or jarring of the head. When a head injury occurs, it can cause the brain to move around in the skull. The brain is allowed to move around in the skull because the soft tissue of the brain is cushioned by spinal fluid inside the skull. When a head injury occurs, and the brain moves around inside the skull, it can cause bruising of the brain, the tearing of blood vessels, and damage to the nerves. This damage to the brain can lead to many symptoms of a concussion. Some of these symptoms include lightheadedness, confusion, memory loss, temporary loss of consciousness, changes in vision, changes in breathing, bad balance, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. These symptoms are usually temporary, but they make the athlete more vulnerable to future injury. A concussion can be diagnosed by an MRI or CT Scan. Concussions are cured by medical treatment and early recognition of the concussion. The athlete should not return to participating in a contact sport while they are still experiencing symptoms from the concussion. This can lead to sever injury including the paralyzing of arms or legs, convulsions, a worsening headache, or confusion. The sports-related injuries mentioned above, and many others, can be somewhat prevented by taking necessary precautions when playing sports or exercising. Precautions to take before your work out to decrease the chance of injury are warming up and stretching. Warm muscles are less prone to get injured and proper warm-up activities and an essential prevention to injury. Some ways to warm up your muscles are jogging, walking, doing jumping jacks, etc.; just a short, easy, slow-paced exercise to warm your muscles up. Then you should stretch after your muscles are warmed up. A few simple stretches can help to maintain overall flexibility, reduce the risk of injury, and improve overall exercise performance. When you stretch, you should slowly get into a stretch position and hold it until you feel resistance, not pain, and release after about thirty seconds.
Some precautions to take during your work out are to increase the difficulty of your work out gradually, exercise regularly, follow the rules of the sport, use equipment correctly, and listen to your body. For your workout, you need to start slowly and progressively work up the intensity level. As your fitness level improves as you gradually increase the time period and rate of which you work out, you will be able to do so with more intensity without risking injury. Once you begin exercising, you need to do so regularly to maintain and increase your fitness level. When playing a sport, you need to follow the rules to prevent injury. The rules were made for your safety to decrease the chances of injuries. Also, you need to use the equipment that was designed to protect you in certain sports. Just like the rules, the equipment for each sport was designed for your safety, especially in contact sports. Make sure when using any equipment to know how to use it and use it correctly. It is also helpful to receive coaching or lessons to learn proper forms and techniques that will reduce the chances of injury, no matter how long you have been playing that sport. As you are working out, you need to listen to your body. Some soreness is normal after exercising, but if it continues, you need to let your body heal. Soreness is caused by inflammation and microtears in the muscle fibers. You need to allow your body an adequate amount of time to let these microtears in your muscles heals before continuing to push your body. You need an appropriate balance of exercise and rest; don’t push yourself too hard. Do not continue to push through the pain you are feeling or continue pushing yourself when you are exhausted; this increases your chances of injury. Also when exercising, it is important to wear appropriate clothing and to maintain adequate hydration. The best fluid to replace your body’s loss is water.
Another important key to decreasing your chances of injury is to develop a well-balanced fitness program.
You need to do so to incorporate all aspects of exercise that your body needs such as cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility. It is also important to work all of the muscle systems in your body. One training technique that is helpful with this is cross training. It allows you to condition different muscle groups and vary stresses placed on muscles and the cardiovascular system. Cross training allows your entire body to be conditioned rather than specific muscles, and the stresses placed on each muscle group are decreased as different activities use various muscles in slightly different ways. It also helps you to continue improving your body’s level of fitness. After a while of doing the same exercises and working the same parts of your body, the body maintains that same level of fitness. Cross training allows you to mix things up and work out different muscles than usual and enables you to maintain a higher level of overall
fitness.
After your work out, you should take the same precautions as you did at the start of your work out to decrease the chance of injury. It is important to cool down and stretch your muscles out again. A cool down after you exercise allows for the oxygen-rich blood to be distributed from the working muscles to the brain and other organs, rather than settling in muscles that are no longer active. This prevents dizziness, nausea, and muscle cramps from occurring after a workout. After a cool down, you should stretch while your muscles are warm and flexible. This will help any microtears that may have occurred during your workout to heal better. Also warming up and stretching out muscles or joints of previous injuries is important to prevent further injuries from occurring. Sports are a very important and essential part of life to many people. They can be very beneficial in keeping your body healthy and in maintaining your wellness level. Unfortunately, these same beneficial sports can also cause many injuries that are harmful to your body. There are many precautions you can take to help prevent these many, common injuries from occurring, and many treatments to help these different injuries heal.
Cluett, Jonathan. “ACL Injury.” About.com: Orthopedics. 2008. 16 Jan. 2008 <http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/aclrepain/a/acl.htm>.
“Prevention of Exercise and Sports-Related Injury.” Palo Alto Medical Foundation. 16 Jan. 2008 <http://www.pamf.org/sports/chen/sportsinjury.html>. “Sports-Related Injuries.” 2006. Biomedica Laboratories Inc. 16 Jan. 2008 <http://www.recoverymedicine.come/sport_related_injuries_wellness _tips.htm >.
http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/safety/first_aid/concussions.html
injury to a ligament, which is a tough cord of tissue that connects muscles to muscles. Sprains are most common to affect ankles, knees, or wrists. A strain is an injury to a muscle or a tendon. A tendon is a tough cord of tissue attaching muscles to bones. Strains are usually caused by overuse of the muscle or tendon, force, or stretching. A dislocation occurs most commonly in the shoulder and fingers. This occurs when an extreme force is applied to a ligament causing the ends of two bones to separate. A fracture is a break in the bone that is caused by a blow or a fall. Two types of fractures are a simple fracture, in which the bone is broken but the skin is not cut through, and a compound fracture, where the bone is broken and it comes through the skin. There are four steps to treating sprains and strains. That is R.I.C.E: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Very bad sprains may require surgery to put the ligament back together so it may heal. To treat a dislocation, your doctor may have to put the joint back in place so it can heal properly. Then you should follow the steps of R.I.C.E. Unlike sprains and strains that may take a few weeks at the most to heal, a fracture may take several weeks or months. To heal a fracture, a cast or splint should be used to hold the bone in place as it grows back together. One of the most common problems involving the knee joint is a tear in the ACL.
The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is a ligament that connects the tibia to the femur. It is one of the four ligaments that are crucial to the stability of the knee joint. The ACL specifically prevents the tibia from sliding too far forward, making the joint unstable and prone to dislocation. When someone experiences an injury to the ACL, they often complain of the feeling that their knee will “give out” due to the lack of stability of the knee joint when the ACL is torn. An ACL injury makes the knee more prone to arthritis and cartilage tears. When you tear your ACL, you might hear or feel a pop in your knee. There will probably be a lot of swelling in the knee area, and you might not be able to straighten your knee. This injury will most likely inhibit your ability to continue playing that sport for a while. When you initially injure your ACL, you should treat it by using R.I.C.E. and medications to reduce the pain and swelling. Crutches or a knee brace may be required in the healing process, as well as stretching and strengthening exercises after the swelling subsides. Usually after an athlete tears their ACL, they are required to have surgery if they expect to play in contact sports again that require pressure or rotating of the …show more content…
knee. Another common injury is called tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis. This is the most common injury of people who complain of a pain in their elbow. It is a condition characterized by pain in the back side of the elbow and forearm, along the thumb side of the arm. The pain is caused by damage to the tendons that bend the wrist backward away from the palm. Patients who experience this injury complain of an intense burning pain in their elbow which starts in the elbow joint and travels up the arm and increasingly worsens with time. Gripping or lifting objects becomes particularly painful. To treat this injury, it is best to see a doctor who can perform a physical examination to determine if the injury can be diagnosed as tennis elbow. To treat tennis elbow, you should stop all physical activities that cause pain and you should apply ice to the outside part of your elbow. A brace or wrist splint and anti-inflammatory medication may be recommended. If these treatments do not work, surgery is the final option, but non-operative treatments should be tried first. Another sports-related common injury is a concussion. A concussion is caused by a large impact or jarring of the head. When a head injury occurs, it can cause the brain to move around in the skull. The brain is allowed to move around in the skull because the soft tissue of the brain is cushioned by spinal fluid inside the skull. When a head injury occurs, and the brain moves around inside the skull, it can cause bruising of the brain, the tearing of blood vessels, and damage to the nerves. This damage to the brain can lead to many symptoms of a concussion. Some of these symptoms include lightheadedness, confusion, memory loss, temporary loss of consciousness, changes in vision, changes in breathing, bad balance, headaches, nausea, and vomiting. These symptoms are usually temporary, but they make the athlete more vulnerable to future injury. A concussion can be diagnosed by an MRI or CT Scan. Concussions are cured by medical treatment and early recognition of the concussion. The athlete should not return to participating in a contact sport while they are still experiencing symptoms from the concussion. This can lead to sever injury including the paralyzing of arms or legs, convulsions, a worsening headache, or confusion. The sports-related injuries mentioned above, and many others, can be somewhat prevented by taking necessary precautions when playing sports or exercising. Precautions to take before your work out to decrease the chance of injury are warming up and stretching. Warm muscles are less prone to get injured and proper warm-up activities and an essential prevention to injury. Some ways to warm up your muscles are jogging, walking, doing jumping jacks, etc.; just a short, easy, slow-paced exercise to warm your muscles up. Then you should stretch after your muscles are warmed up. A few simple stretches can help to maintain overall flexibility, reduce the risk of injury, and improve overall exercise performance. When you stretch, you should slowly get into a stretch position and hold it until you feel resistance, not pain, and release after about thirty seconds.
Some precautions to take during your work out are to increase the difficulty of your work out gradually, exercise regularly, follow the rules of the sport, use equipment correctly, and listen to your body. For your workout, you need to start slowly and progressively work up the intensity level. As your fitness level improves as you gradually increase the time period and rate of which you work out, you will be able to do so with more intensity without risking injury. Once you begin exercising, you need to do so regularly to maintain and increase your fitness level. When playing a sport, you need to follow the rules to prevent injury. The rules were made for your safety to decrease the chances of injuries. Also, you need to use the equipment that was designed to protect you in certain sports. Just like the rules, the equipment for each sport was designed for your safety, especially in contact sports. Make sure when using any equipment to know how to use it and use it correctly. It is also helpful to receive coaching or lessons to learn proper forms and techniques that will reduce the chances of injury, no matter how long you have been playing that sport. As you are working out, you need to listen to your body. Some soreness is normal after exercising, but if it continues, you need to let your body heal. Soreness is caused by inflammation and microtears in the muscle fibers. You need to allow your body an adequate amount of time to let these microtears in your muscles heals before continuing to push your body. You need an appropriate balance of exercise and rest; don’t push yourself too hard. Do not continue to push through the pain you are feeling or continue pushing yourself when you are exhausted; this increases your chances of injury. Also when exercising, it is important to wear appropriate clothing and to maintain adequate hydration. The best fluid to replace your body’s loss is water.
Another important key to decreasing your chances of injury is to develop a well-balanced fitness program.
You need to do so to incorporate all aspects of exercise that your body needs such as cardiovascular exercise, strength training, and flexibility. It is also important to work all of the muscle systems in your body. One training technique that is helpful with this is cross training. It allows you to condition different muscle groups and vary stresses placed on muscles and the cardiovascular system. Cross training allows your entire body to be conditioned rather than specific muscles, and the stresses placed on each muscle group are decreased as different activities use various muscles in slightly different ways. It also helps you to continue improving your body’s level of fitness. After a while of doing the same exercises and working the same parts of your body, the body maintains that same level of fitness. Cross training allows you to mix things up and work out different muscles than usual and enables you to maintain a higher level of overall
fitness.
After your work out, you should take the same precautions as you did at the start of your work out to decrease the chance of injury. It is important to cool down and stretch your muscles out again. A cool down after you exercise allows for the oxygen-rich blood to be distributed from the working muscles to the brain and other organs, rather than settling in muscles that are no longer active. This prevents dizziness, nausea, and muscle cramps from occurring after a workout. After a cool down, you should stretch while your muscles are warm and flexible. This will help any microtears that may have occurred during your workout to heal better. Also warming up and stretching out muscles or joints of previous injuries is important to prevent further injuries from occurring. Sports are a very important and essential part of life to many people. They can be very beneficial in keeping your body healthy and in maintaining your wellness level. Unfortunately, these same beneficial sports can also cause many injuries that are harmful to your body. There are many precautions you can take to help prevent these many, common injuries from occurring, and many treatments to help these different injuries heal.
Cluett, Jonathan. “ACL Injury.” About.com: Orthopedics. 2008. 16 Jan. 2008 <http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/aclrepain/a/acl.htm>.
“Prevention of Exercise and Sports-Related Injury.” Palo Alto Medical Foundation. 16 Jan. 2008 <http://www.pamf.org/sports/chen/sportsinjury.html>. “Sports-Related Injuries.” 2006. Biomedica Laboratories Inc. 16 Jan. 2008 <http://www.recoverymedicine.come/sport_related_injuries_wellness _tips.htm >.
http://www.kidshealth.org/teen/safety/first_aid/concussions.html