We all know the importance of exercise, and it’s a known fact that most of us don’t get enough of it. Not everyone is going to have the motivation to get out of bed at 6am and go for a run, or hit the gym after a long day at work, so the key is finding something you enjoy enough to actually want to keep it up. And a sport is an excellent choice. In many sports you get the social aspect, and you get an amazing workout without feeling like you’re counting down the minutes until you can stop. Unfortunately, there are some risks associated with different sports. It should in no way put you off, but being aware of them can help you to take precautionary steps and protect yourself. Injuries can occur during sports, whether you are playing professionally or just for fun, and can have a lasting impact on your life. It is important to learn about these injuries and how they can affect you in the long run, so if you would like to learn more here are the injuries that might appear during sports.
Sprains and Strains
Many sports require you to be up on your feet, jumping around and moving your body. For this reason, sprains and strains are one of the most common sporting injuries. These happen when the ligaments stretch past their limits or tear, it’s extremely painful and unfortunately takes a long time to heal. You can help to prevent these from occurring by properly warming up, and realizing when you’re fatigued. It’s good to push for the burn, but know when your body has had enough and you will prevent injuring yourself. If you have suffered from a damaged ligament or other musculoskeletal problem as a result of playing sports, you could contact a Sports medicine doctor. They specialize in these kinds of injuries so will be able to help you get back on your feet quickly and safely.
Knee Injuries and ACL Tears
The anterior cruciate ligament, often shortened to ‘ACL’ holds the leg bone to the knee. A tear can happen when you’re hit from the side, and is most likely to occur during high contact sports such as martial arts, rugby or football. These are some of the worst sporting injuries to sustain and sadly, have caused many athletes to have to cut short their career. They are severe and usually require surgery to repair. Other knee issues include Patellofemoral syndrome. This occurs due to the repetitive movement of your kneecap against your thigh bone, which can damage the tissue under the kneecap. Sports such as basketball, volleyball and running are often offenders of causing this condition. It will get better in a number of weeks, but it’s important to rest and only do low impact activities until it’s better.
Elbow Injuries
Tennis elbow or ‘epicondylitis’ is a repetitive injury which can make tiny tears in the tendon of the elbow. It’s not just tennis players who are at risk of this, any sport which requires making a swinging motion should be cautious. It’s most common in people who are thirty to sixty years old, and in most cases it involves the outside of the elbow. Epicondylitis can usually be cleared up if you stop playing the offending sport for a few weeks, or until the pain improves. When you get back to playing the sport, you might want to consider wearing an Elbow Compression Sleeve for Sports to help support the elbow as you ease back into the activity and your elbow gets used to the motion again.
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