When you’re making the transition from a child to a young adult, things can change in the blink of an eye. When it comes to sports, as your body is maturing, you can be more prone to injuries when being involved in sports, whether they involve full contact or not. Here are some common sports injuries that range from minor to career-ending.

Ankle Sprains

While this doesn’t only pertain to sports injuries, you’ll find ankle sprains more commonly on a sports field. With sports like soccer, football, and lacrosse where you’re running across rough terrain, it’s more than possible to either sprain or twist your ankle. A sprain is described as a twisting injury, where the ligament that supports your ankle becomes damaged because of the twisting motion. The most common treatment for an injury like this is to let it rest, which typically leads to a fast recovery. One thing to watch out for is if you sprain the same ankle multiple times without rest. This can lead to weakness in the ankle, resulting in a higher chance to escalate the injury to something like a fracture or a break.

Knee Pain

Knee pain can be associated with many sports injuries but is typically found more often in women playing sports. This is because women typically have a wider pelvis which adjusts the angle at which the femur meets the knee. Because of this angle, women’s knees tend to take more punishment than men, and in a way, is their male equivalent to an Achilles heel. This injury can happen to baseball players such as catchers who are in a squatted position most of the game, soccer players who are on their feet and occasionally perform things such as sliding tackles, and volleyball players who take a ton of punishment diving onto a hardwood floor. Although sports rehabilitation typically helps most of these issues, these types of injuries can result in long-term pain.

Little Leaguer’s Elbow

Another baseball player injury is little leaguer’s elbow, which is any pain at or around the elbow. This is typically experienced by pitchers as the pitching motion is the typical culprit of this injury. Although resting can help to slow the progression of sports injuries like this, most young adults have to eventually get surgery sooner rather than later in order to save the elbow for the longevity of a player’s career.

ACL Tears

Of all of these injuries, this is the most frightening injury for most sports players, young or old. An ACL is the stabilizing ligament that when twisted in an uncontrolled motion, can result in a tear. This also affects the area around the knee, especially the menisci which is what absorbs shock. This means that whenever you’re on the field after something like an ACL tear, you will feel the impact on your legs even more. Although many players can come back from this injury, there are some players, even pro players, that have had their careers ended because of this injury. The best thing to do for an injury like this is to give it plenty of time to heal so that you don’t have a risk of any serious long-term damage.

How to Tackle These Injuries

Although all of these sports injuries are frightening to different degrees, there are some steps to take to make sure this doesn’t happen to you. First of all, at the first sign of pain, it’s important to visit somewhere like an urgent care that can address the injury quickly and give it a diagnosis. A doctor can best identify what exactly is going on with you without needing to perform a serious surgery first. Medical professionals are the only people who are qualified when it comes to diagnosing a problem.

While on the field before the injury, it’s important to stretch and make sure that you don’t start your sport without being warmed up. Another issue that can come up is if you continue to play past the point of exhaustion. Your mind plays a big role in how your body reacts and if you continue to play while exhausted, you might find it hard to think about what you are doing and this can lead to a serious injury. Another good thing to note is that it’s important to have some sort of health insurance. According to the CDC, more than 8% of people over the age of 18 miss out on much-needed medical treatments because of the cost. Don’t let this stop you from getting the help you need.

If you have recently had one of these injuries and are in the New Jersey area, visit Care Station Medical Group. We can help with your sports injuries.