Safeguard Yourself From Sport Injuries: Stretching, Safe Play & More - Essay Sample

Introduction

Have you ever witnessed someone getting injured as you were watching a sports event? Injuries in sports can ruin someone's career or even the rest of their lives. In some cases, injuries in sports even lead to death. While sport is a game, there are various injuries which are witnessed in sport and people should do certain things that will prevent injuries from occurring. Thus, we should prevent and stop sport-related injuries through stretching exercises, fair play/playing safe, developing proper fitness plans, staying hydrated, and proper rehabilitation.Common Sport-related Injuries

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Hamstring Strain

The injury occurs at the back of the thigh where the hamstring muscle is located. Strain to the hamstring muscle occurs when this muscle is tightened, mostly because of lack of stretching or having poor stretching techniques which cause tear or strain to the muscle (Deu & Carek, 2005). Usually, athletes with hamstring injuries will have bruises on the knee or the back of their thighs.

Concussion

Concussions are serious injuries in sports, and these are brain injuries caused by a massive blow to the head. An athlete experiencing concussions have symptoms of headache, mumble speech dizziness, nausea, confusion, and high sensitivity to light.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear/Strain

The knee has several stabilizing ligaments, and the anterior cruciate ligament is a major ligament. Often, this injury occurs when an athlete sprints, slows down, and tries to change direction, which causes the ligament to tear (Jangra, 2019). An anterior cruciate ligament injury is mostly characterized by instability when walking and knee swelling.

Hip Flexor Strain

These are injuries to the upper front side of the thigh. The hip flexors muscles are responsible for assisting a person in lifting their leg as well as move a leg towards or away from the other. The injury mostly occurs as a result of sprinting and other sports activities that involve quick turns. Bruising on the groin or upper part of the thing and pain are common symptoms of this injury.

Shoulder Injury

Shoulder injuries occur in different forms. It may be dislocations, the strain on shoulder muscles, misalignment of the shoulder or shoulder ligaments' sprains (Jangra, 2019). A wide range of these injuries occurs because the shoulder is the weakest body joint, and high force on it causes these injuries.

Shin Splints

These are injuries that occur on the lower leg bone, and usually, they are experienced by athletes involved in sports activities with a great deal of running, especially when one increases these activities quickly. Pain in the tibia is the prevalent symptom.

Tennis or Golf Elbow

The injury occurs in an athlete's forearm, which gets inflammation as a result of engaging in activities that require a great deal of gripping. As a result of repetitive activity such as playing tennis, the forearm's tendons may become inflamed and result in significant pain when moving the hand or the wrist.

Sciatica

Sciatica is an injury experienced in sports where a disc at the back bulges or a nerve is pinched, causing back pain that travels down the legs. The injury usually occurs in athletes such as cyclists who stay in a flexed forward posture for a long time or golf and tennis players who swing their trunks (Deu & Carek, 2005). Pain burning and tingling down the leg and numbness are common symptoms.

Patellofemoral Syndrome

It is a common knee injury which occurs as a result of a muscle imbalance caused by a fall onto the knee. Athletes suffering from this injury show symptom of swelling of the knee joint, which comes with pain.

Preventing and Stopping Sports-Related Injuries

Stretching Exercises

It mainly involves engaging in conditioning exercises. Usually, it is almost impossible to prevent getting injuries while playing sports, especially those that involve a lot of physical contacts. Stretching exercises before a sports activity are necessary as it improves the capability of muscles to contract and perform. When flexibility increases, an athlete can reduce the risk of injury (Talpey & Siesmaa, 2017). However, these stretching exercises such as seat stretch, side seat straddle, among others should be slow at the start until an athlete feels muscle tension, and this means holding a stretch up to twenty seconds.

Fair Play/Playing Safe

Sports injuries can be prevented by encouraging fair play and enforcing the rules of the game. For instance, fouls committed with excessive force make the victim susceptible to injuries, and such fouls can be prevented through strict enforcement of rules. Other strict rules such as a rule against spearing in American Football should be enforced to prevent concussion injuries. Additionally, it is crucial to ensure that appropriate equipment is used as it reduces the incidences of accidents among athletes

Developing Proper Fitness Plans

An athlete's fitness plan should incorporate the goal of preventing injuries, and this will involve creating a balanced exercise routine. At the same time, they should start slow as they progress, include a building activity into their daily routine and include different activities. This means that they should include exercises that build their strength, increase flexibility, and exercise their cardiovascular system as a balanced program helps to reduce the risk of different sports injuries. It is essential that after these exercises, the athletes take time for recovery because working for too long or excessively may injure muscle and joints.

Staying Hydrated

The significance of staying hydrated among athletes cannot be overlooked. Dehydration is associated with injuries to muscles and joints. Muscle cramps are injuries which are associated with dehydration. The body needs water and electrolytes and absence of either of these negatively impacts the ability of muscles to contract, and since athletes sweat a lot, they end up experiencing cramps. Also, the lack of proper hydration contributes to cartilage wear. If an athlete is not well hydrated, they may have wear and tear, especially in their knees and these cartilages tear them easily. Additionally, dehydration causes friction in joints, and friction is prevented by synovial fluid, which is 80% water (Jangra, 2019). Therefore if an athlete is not well hydrated, they end up having joint aches.

Proper Rehabilitation Plan

The risk of reoccurrence of a sports injury is higher than that of a new injury occurring if an athlete does not have a proper rehabilitation plan in place before resuming his/her sporting activity. The primary objective of rehabilitation is to prevent the progress of the injury, reverse the functional loss, and correct a deformity caused by the injury (Talpey & Siesmaa, 2017). A rehabilitation plan must take into consideration that an athlete must return in an environment where they got the injury. Therefore the rehabilitation team should include professionals not limited to physical therapists, nutritionists, coaches, and physical educators. These professionals, together with others, work together to establish a correct and useful recovery timeline to prevent injury reoccurrence.

References

Deu, R., & Carek, P. (2005). Common Sports Injuries: Upper Extremity Injuries. Clinics in Family Practice, 7(2), 249-265. doi: 10.1016/j.cfp.2005.02.004

Jangra, A. (2019). Sports Injuries and Prevention. Academic Journal of Sports and Physical, 1(1), 13-18.

Talpey, S., & Siesmaa, E. (2017). Sports Injury Prevention. Strength and Conditioning Journal, 39(3), 14-19. doi: 10.1519/ssc.0000000000000301