Chapter 13: Recognizing Different Sports Injuries

©Courtesy Chris Bartlett, Central Davidson High School, Lexington, NC

OBJECTIVES

When you finish this chapter you will be able to:

• Differentiate between acute and chronic injury.

• Briefly describe acute traumatic injuries, including fractures, dislocations and subluxations, contusions, ligament sprains, muscle strains, muscle soreness, and nerve injuries.

• Talk about chronic overuse injuries, and differentiate tendinitis, tendinosis, tenosynovitis, bursitis, osteoarthritis, and myofascial trigger points.

• Have at least some understanding of the three phases of the healing process.

INTRODUCTION

No matter how much attention is directed toward the general principles of injury prevention, the nature of physical activity dictates that sooner or later injury will occur.⁴⁸ Traditionally, the terms acute and chronic have been used to describe injuries.⁴⁶ Health care professionals have debated the usefulness of these terms in defining injury. The concern has been that at some point all injuries can be considered acute—in other words, every injury has a beginning point. At what point does an acute injury become a chronic injury?⁴⁶ Generally, the mechanism of injury (MOI) is either from trauma or from overuse. Trauma is defined as a physical injury or wound that is produced by an external or internal force.⁷ Acute injuries, also referred to as macrotrauma, are caused by trauma. Chronic injuries, also called microtrauma, can result from overuse such as the injuries that occur with the repetitive dynamics of running, throwing, or jumping.⁴⁸ In this chapter we discuss the more common traumatic and overuse injuries that the coach or fitness professional is likely to see.

The information in this chapter is not meant to encourage fitness professionals, coaches, or others interested in areas related to exercise and sports science to attempt to diagnose injuries that may occur. This should be left to health care professionals, who have considerably more training and expertise. However, being familiar with the various injuries described in this chapter can help in understanding the course of both immediate care and long-term injury management.

ACUTE (TRAUMATIC) INJURIES

Fractures

Fractures (broken bones) occur as a result of extreme stresses and strains placed on bones. Before discussing fractures, a brief discussion of bone anatomy is necessary.The gross structure of the long bones includes the diaphysis, epiphysis, articular cartilage, and periosteum (Figure 13–1).³⁸ The diaphysis is the main shaft of the bone. It is hollow, cylindrical, and covered by compact bone. The epiphysis is located at the ends of long bones. It is the growth area of the bone in adolescents. An injury to the epiphysis may affect growth of the long bones in younger athletes (see Chapter 25).³⁰ The ends of long bones are covered with a layer of ...