Common Sports Injuries and How to Avoid Them

Staying active at any age is a worthwhile effort for maintaining overall health mentally and physically. It is a great method of preventing chronic conditions that can be dangerous, achieving and maintaining a healthy weight, and keeping your muscles and bones strong. 

Having a routine exercise regimen or participating in sports can help to prevent problems like cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and even some cancers. Staying active can also help with problems that affect your bones like arthritis and osteoporosis. 

However, there is always the risk of injury, and with sport and other activities there is a common set of problems you can find yourself struggling with. To get a handle on what these injuries are, let’s examine the parts of your body most often affected by them, the common conditions you can get, and what you can do to avoid dealing with them.

If you live in the Fort Worth, Texas area, and you’re coping with injuries from sports or other activities, Dr. Joseph Daniels and his medical team at Southwest Orthopedic Associates can help you get back on your feet and into the game.

Parts of the body most affected by sports injuries

Leading a highly active life can lead to the same injuries as engaging in organized sports, and they stem from the same problems — not wearing proper equipment, not warming up or cooling down before and after activities, and participating in activities that may risk collisions with others.

Being out of shape and doing activities that require a lot of pivoting, running, jumping, and quick changes in directions can also contribute to getting injured. It often results in pain and damage to your Achilles tendon, ankle, elbow, head, knee, and shoulder.

Common injuries from physical activity

The aforementioned factors frequently lead to these common injuries:

Achilles tendon

Your calf muscle is connected to your heel by your Achilles tendon, the largest tendon you have in your whole body. Achilles tendinitis is a very common injury in the area, as well as Achilles tendon rupture.

Fractures/ breaks

The sudden force of jumping, tackling, or impact from falling can cause fractures and breaks in the bone. You can also develop stress fractures from repetitive motions that lead to chronic injuries, and they may develop gradually without you even noticing.

Shin

Also known as the tibia, this is the bone in the front of your leg between your knee and your ankle. Shin splints are a very common problem that stems from muscles and tendons around the bone getting inflamed, which often creates pain in your lower leg.

Knee 

Jumper’s knee (Patellar tendinitis) and runner’s knee are the common problems that affect this highly used synovial joint. Repetitive motions are involved in developing both conditions, and either can be acute or chronic. Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are also very common in athletes, resulting in strains or tears that can affect your knee’s stability.

Elbow

Tennis elbow and little league elbow (referred to as ulnar collateral ligament injury in adults) are chronic injuries that cause pain and inflammation.

Shoulder

Rotator cuff injuries are the most common shoulder problem in athletes. They stem from repetitive motions that lead to swelling and pain. 

Methods of prevention

Here are some habits you need to develop to help keep these common injuries from happening:

• Warm up and cool down: get your body limber and ready to go before you start any strenuous activity, and take the same care to cool the body down afterward
• Wear the appropriate gear: this means finding shoes that fit, and wearing knee pads, helmets, and other gear as necessary to protect yourself
• Stay hydrated: drink plenty of fluids before, during, and after intense physical activity.
• Use proper technique: make an effort to learn the techniques for the activity you’re performing to be as safe as possible doing it

Taking proper care of yourself throughout any intense activity can help a great deal to avoid injury, and keep you doing the things you enjoy. If you do find yourself struggling with damage to your body due to any of these problems, make an appointment with Dr. Daniels and his team at Southwest Orthopedic Associates today.