33 Sports Injuries-High

Sports Injuries FOCUS Question What are sports injuries, and how can you prevent them?

It Hurts! Playing sports, whether team sports or individual sports, sometimes means getting injured. People fall. They crash into things. They twist the wrong way. They get too hot or dehydrated. When someone has an injury, it hurts! Pain is the body's way of letting us know that something is wrong with our body. Kids ages five to fifteen are more likely to get sports injuries than adults. That's because adults' bodies are mostly done growing. But kids' bodies are still growing and changing. Do You Know? Of the 30 million kids who play sports in the U.S. each year, 3.5 million report having injuries.

Kids and Sports Injuries One way kids are different from adults is that their heads are heavier compared to their bodies. Because of this difference, neck injuries are more likely in children. Also kids are not fully grown, so their muscles may not be strong enough to protect their ankles, knees, and other joints. Their bones may break more easily. Kids also have less developed coordination and balance, so they fall more often than adults. They have slower reflexes, too. Kids may also not fully understand the risks. Some injuries, like bruises and scrapes, heal quickly. More serious injuries take longer to heal.

Strains and Sprains Some injuries can take weeks or months to heal. Strains result from tearing tendons, the tissues that connect muscles to bones. Sprains result from tearing ligaments, the tissues that connect bones together. For example, ligaments hold the bones in the knee together. When strains and sprains occur, the body pushes blood and nutrients to the injured area to aid healing. This causes swelling and more pain. Ice and some medicines decrease swelling. This may reduce the pain, but it does not aid healing. These injuries heal over time with a lot of rest. Some athletes have surgery to repair torn ligaments sooner. Do You Know? Baseball pitchers often suffer ligament damage to elbows and shoulders from repeatedly throwing a ball.

Fractures Athletes can break, or fracture, bones by falling wrong or crashing into something. Sometimes, playing sports can cause a stress fracture. This kind of injury happens when a bone is hit, bent, or used again and again. It is similar to bending a wire back and forth until it breaks. Stress fractures are common in sports in which athletes run or jump, including volleyball, basketball, and gymnastics. To heal a fracture, athletes wear a cast to keep a broken bone from moving. In children, bones usually heal quickly. But kids' bones are still growing. Doctors take special care to make sure a fracture in a growing bone heals properly and doesn't cause permanent damage.

Concussion A concussion is an injury to the brain. When the head is hit, the brain can be injured as it bounces around inside the skull. The person may feel the pain of the hit and have a headache. They may have trouble talking and appear dazed or confused. They may be dizzy, have ringing in the ears, and not be able to remember things. Sometimes a concussion will cause a person to pass out, or become unconscious. Concussions can have a lasting effect on how the brain functions.