Sports Injuries
"Run when you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must; just never give up” - Dean Karnazes
Sprains & Strains
- Commonly mistaken to be the same
- Strains involve an injury to the muscle or tissue that connect muscle to bone
- Sprains are the tearing of a ligament that connects two bones together in your joints
- Treatment: R.I.C.E (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation)
Broken Bone & Dislocation
- A common injury in contact sports; martial arts would be the best example
- Causes: Falling, overuse, Osteoporosis (weaken of the bone tissue), and more
- Treatment: Wearing a cast of some kind for a while to let the healing take its time to align properly
Swollen Muscle
- Swollen muscles are due to direct trauma on a body part
- The reason it swells is due to our blood being rushed inside the injury
- Treatment: Ice
ACL Tear (Knee Injury)
- An ACL, an anterior cruciate ligament, is a strong band of tissue that "help[s] connect your thigh bone (femur) to your shin bone (tibia) (Mayo Clinic, 2021).
- Caused by stress on the knee
- Strengthening your muscles, particularly leg muscles, and proper exercise training is good preventative
- Recovery is generally nine months, and around twelve before clearance to play sports again
Biomechanics of ACL Injuries in Sports
Why are they so detrimental to athletes?
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ACL Injuries..
are so detrimental to athletes due to the long term effects they have on your knee as well as the likelihood of it occurring again. Ligaments get a very poor blood supply, making it easy to slow down or even completely undo the healing process. While doctors recommend surgery for most ACL tears, they especially recommend it for any athlete with the desire to get back to their game.
Understanding the biomechanics of ACL Tears can be crucial in the prevention of any knee injuries. According to Kaitlyn Wess' and Chris Whatman's Systemic review, they acknowledged an ACL tear occured:
"At the knee, increased abduction loading coupled with shallow flexion angles were the most common biomechanics present in both ACL and PFPS studies; at the hip, increased flexion was most common across studies. Regarding the knee, these biomechanics were seen both pre-injury and at the time of injury. At the hip, increased flexion was observed at the time of injury and following injury (Biomechanics Associated with Patellofemoral Pain and ACL Injuries in Sports, 2015)."
What famous athletes have suffered from ACL tears?
Derrick Rose
Famous basketball player, Derrick Rose, had a season ending tear while playing for the Chicago Bulls in 2012 in his left knee. With 1:22 left in the game, he suffered from the injury while trying to leap off of his foot. This resulted in a 6-12 month recovery.
Alex Morgan
Even though we know Alex Morgan today as one of USA's best soccer players, Morgan too suffered from an ACL tear in 2007 at 17 years old. She tore it on her High school soccer team and upon successful knee surgery went on to play at the University of California as well as the National Women's Soccer League. Despite the recovery that led her to being a national sensation, she dealt with knee injuries the rest of her career, including an MCL tear in 2013.
Tom Brady
The man who led the Bucs to the Super Bowl win with a fully torn MCL, also managed to tear his ACL in 2008. In Brady's final season with the Patriot's, he absorbed a low hit from a Kansas City Chiefs player at the Gillette Stadium.