Six Causes of Sports Medicine Injuries

ByA Aaronson

Whether you regularly play sports for recreation or you are a professional athlete there are many ways that sports medicine can end up playing a role in the treatment of any of your possible injuries, rehabilitation and especially prevention thereafter. From your head, neck, back, hips, elbows, wrists, knees, ankles, fingers and toes there are several common injuries that your body can withstand over the years. You can have a great diet including recommended supplements for your bones, joints and muscle recovery.

You can even do all the exercises that you've read about that are great for strength development and that lean athletic body that you admire, but these things don't guarantee that you won't sustain a physical stress related or traumatic induced damage at some point. Whether it is a minor injury or requires several surgeries in order to regain your form and function, sports medicine specialist have spent many years educating themselves on the causes and best treatments for all of the possible ways that the body can become damaged.

In many cases repetitive use otherwise known as overuse, inappropriate preparation for athletic activity or accidental trauma are at the base of many of the injuries that affect one's need for the intervention of sports medicine. First, sudden stops and twists after fast running as are common in tennis, basketball or football can place inordinate amounts of stress on one's ligaments, tendons and muscles that cause sprains and tears. Second, strikes and falls on hard courts or from high places can cause several brakes or fractures.

Third, foregoing appropriate warm up exercises and stretches does not allow circulation to prepare the muscles for adequate performance thereafter and injury can occur as a result. Forth, many athletes make the mistake of holding on to old athletic equipment far beyond its beneficial use. This is most common with athletic shoes because they are so worn in and comfortable, but they no longer provide the foot and ankle support that you need to protect the joints and alignment. Fifth, another mistake that is often made is the safety of the equipment and safety devices that athletes depend on such as the exercise equipment and tools such as helmets.

Sixth and sadly, many athletes can use poor technique from time to time, whether they were momentarily distracted, using inappropriate gear or equipment it happens. It can also go unnoticed and cause degenerative function and performance overtime. Sports medicine helps to detect, treat, rehabilitate and prevent all of these issues for any level of athlete one step at a time.

Are you looking for a professional in sports medicine Houston? To contact a specialist who could help rehabilitate and prevent injury, please visit: http://warnockmd.com.

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A Aaronson

Email Address:SubscribeHealth and Fitness Article FeedFind More ArticlesSearchSimilar ArticlesA Look at What Sports Medicine Is All AboutSports Medicine Promotes Health and WholenessSports Medicine: What You Need to Know Before Making an AppointmentThe Educational Path to Becoming a Sports TherapistExcellent OrthopedicsIs It Getting Hot Out Here? Tips On Staying Hydrated And Beating The HeatThree Pitfalls of Marathon Training ProgramsBarefoot Running - A New SubcultureValuable Ways Orthopedic Surgeons Heal Their PatientsHand Surgery - Minimally Invasive Hand and Wrist SurgeriesRecent ArticlesBotox and Our Fascination With YouthLiposuction - What Is It?Subjects You Must Know To Work In Medical Billing and CodingWhat Is a Leaky Gut?Getting a Sports Physical FastA Career in Health Care Is a Dream Job in Today's EconomyBuying a Hearing Aid: What You Should Be Aware OfCan a Hearing Aid Help You?Buying a Hearing Aid: When to Exercise CautionDiet, Exercise, and ConsistencySubmitted On April 16, 2012. Viewed 5 times. Word count: 427.

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Women At Greater Risk Of Knee Injuries

5 (1 votes)

Women are more prone to knee injuries than men, and the findings of a new study suggest this may involve more than just differences in muscular and skeletal structure - it shows that males and females also differ in the way they transmit the nerve impulses that control muscle force.

Scientists at Oregon State University found that men control nerve impulses similar to individuals trained for explosive muscle usage - like those of a sprinter - while the nerve impulses of women are more similar to those of an endurance-trained athlete, like a distance runner.

In particular, the research may help to explain why women tend to suffer ruptures more often than men in the anterior cruciate ligament of their knees during non-contact activities. These ACL injuries are fairly common, can be debilitating, and even when repaired can lead to osteoarthritis later in life.

More study of these differences in nervous system processing may lead to improved types of training that individuals could use to help address this issue, scientists said.

"It's clear that women move differently than men, but it's not as obvious why that is," said Sam Johnson, a clinical assistant professor in the OSU School of Biological and Population Health Sciences.

"There are some muscular and skeletal differences between men and women, but that doesn't explain differences in injury rates as much as you might think," Johnson said. "No one has really studied the role of the nervous system the way we have in explaining these differences, specifically the way sensory information is processed and integrated with motor function in the spinal cord."

In this study, just published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, the scientists found that most aspects of spinal motor control and rapid activation of muscles were similar in 17 men and 17 women that were examined - with one exception. Men had a higher level of "recurrent inhibition," which is a process in the spinal cord that helps select the appropriate muscle response.

Even a process as simple as walking is surprisingly complicated, as people process large amounts of information and use varying forces to move around obstacles, change direction or simply climb up a step. And when you slip on an icy patch, the need for extremely rapid and accurate muscle response might be all that stands between you and a broken hip.

For some reason, women tend to have knee motions that make them more susceptible to injury. Among other things, when landing from a jump their knees tend to collapse inward more than that of most men. They suffer significantly more ACL injuries during physical activity.

"We're finding differences in nervous system processing that we believe are related to this," Johnson said. "The causes for those differences are unclear, but it may be due either to a biological difference, such as hormones, or a cultural difference such as different exercise and training patterns."

This research was supported by the National Athletic Trainers' Association Research and Education Foundation. Researchers at Marquette University collaborated on the work.

While researchers continue to study what might help address this, Johnson said it's already possible for women to be more aware of these common differences and do exercises that should reduce problems.

Many ACL injury prevention programs incorporate strength, balance, flexibility, and jump training. However, based on these and other findings, women - especially athletes - should consider training with motions more similar to those of their sport, such as squatting, lunging, jumping or cutting side-to-side.

Use of heavy weights may not really be necessary, Johnson said, so much as mimicking the motions that often cause this injury.