What Are Overuse Injuries?

The term exercise encompasses muscle contraction, mental activity, and competitive or recreational physical activity.

Sports injury

The term sports encompasses

The term exercise encompasses muscle contraction, mental activity, and competitive or recreational physical activity. Injury refers to the result of damage to living tissue caused by one or more internal or external forces. The definition of sports injury is that all injuries related to sports can be included in the scope of sports injuries. For example: sprains of the lateral ligament of the ankle joint during exercise, contusion or bruise of the limb by blunt objects, muscle strain of sprinters, etc., are all well-known sports injuries.

Some sports injury experts believe that the above-mentioned injuries are not limited to exercise, and there is no special difference in diagnosis and treatment. As long as there is appropriate treatment, excellent treatment results will be obtained. On the contrary, there are some special injuries caused by incorrect sports skills or improper training, such as "tennis elbow", "pitcher shoulder", "jumping knee", and "tibia cavity syndrome", etc., which often require the identification of sports injury experts In order to obtain a correct diagnosis, obtain better treatment effects, and further prevent its recurrence or deterioration, and even strengthen the ligaments and muscle strength of the injured site, so that the athlete's athletic performance improves. Therefore, this type of "skills "Sexual injury" or special injuries caused by sports is the connotation of true sports injuries, and it is also where sports injury experts can exert their expertise.

Although there is no fixed description of the definition of sports injury, in a broad sense, sports injury refers to the body's physical injury caused by various physical activities. In a narrow sense, sports injury refers to the special physical injury situation caused by sports, which is different from the injuries of ordinary body limbs in daily life. However, for a physical education teacher or coach, an in-depth understanding of all the physical injuries that can occur during exercise is a more correct concept of sports injury learning.

There are many classification methods of sports injuries. When distinguished according to the injury situation or medical history of symptoms, it can be divided into two types: acute sports injury and chronic sports injury.

Sports injury acute sports injury

The so-called "acute sports injury" refers to the phenomenon that a single internal or external stimulus causes damage to tissues and organs. The injured can clearly remember; it happened during a class, practice, or competition. In terms of the nature of the injury, it can be divided into:

a. muscle strain

The most common form of muscle injury caused by a single strong contraction of muscles or abnormal muscle coordination and movement is a thigh muscle strain. According to the degree of injury, it can be divided into mild (first degree), moderate (second degree) and severe (third degree) injuries. The muscle is slightly strained, a small part of the muscle fibers of the muscle are broken, and muscle bleeding is very small. Only when the muscle is stressed or when the affected part is pressed, it causes pain. Moderate muscle injury refers to the muscles with considerable muscle fiber breakage and obvious bleeding, which may be accompanied by the emergence of edema, the muscle strength of the injured muscle is weakened, and the affected area is enlarged. Severe muscle strain means that all muscle fibers of the muscle are broken and the whole muscle is broken. The most common break is the intersection of the muscle and the tendon. At this point, the muscles bleed a lot, and the broken muscles contracted to the ends, forming a large bump, and the broken part was sunken.

b. Sprain

The ligament is injured by a single joint overstretch. The most common is the lateral ligament sprain. It can also be divided into three levels according to the degree of injury. Mild ligament sprains will only be painful when the joints are moved, without any swelling or changes in appearance. Moderate ligament sprain refers to most of the ligament rupture, with joint swelling and severe pain. Severe ligament sprain refers to a complete rupture of the ligament, accompanied by severe hematoma and joint instability.

c. contusion

The so-called contusion refers to the trauma caused by the blunt force of the subcutaneous tissue, and the most common is to hit the body with a ball (baseball). After the injury, microvascular rupture and bleeding and tissue damage will be caused, and the tissue fluid will flow out, thus forming edema. The phenomenon of bleeding or hematoma in the tissue due to contusion, if not handled properly, may cause chronic pain due to the fibrosis and calcification of the tissue.

d. fracture

Bones are also prone to breakage due to the impact of external forces or due to fatigue or excessive training. Can be divided into closed and open fractures. It is a kind of injury that the general public knows how to deal with urgently (fixing, sending to a doctor).

e. Dislocation of joints

Joint dislocation refers to forced displacement of the bone articular surface, rupture of the joint capsule, excessive extension or rupture of joint ligaments. It most often appears on the shoulder joint. Can be divided into two types of acute dislocation and chronic dislocation, acute dislocation with ligament laceration. Patients with chronic dislocation often have a history of ligament lacerations or ligaments often being involved, resulting in ligament relaxation and joint capsule enlargement, which further causes chronic dislocation of the joint.

f. Open wounds (abrasions, lacerations, wounds, etc.)

This is some physical trauma and will not be further explained here.

Chronic sports injury

Chronic sports injury refers to the physical morbid phenomenon that accumulates multiple minor injuries. Injured people are often not sure when and where it happened, but were eventually found to affect athletic performance. The nature of the injury can be divided into:

a. Chronic tendinitis or tendinitis

The repeated use of muscles (tendons) causes mild continuous injuries to the tendons, resulting in chronic inflammation of the tendons, called chronic tendonitis. The famous sports injury "tennis elbow" refers to the chronic tendinitis of the tennis player's elbow joint.

b. Tenosynovitis

On the periphery of the tendons of the hands and feet, there is a sheath containing a lubricating fluid, which has the function of lubricating the tendons. Chronic tendon sphingomyelitis is caused by long-term repeated excessive use of tendons, causing frictional injuries, or acute tendon overuse is not completely cured, and continues to exercise and repeated attacks. Because the lubricating effect of the tendon is limited, the tendon produces pain and sounds when it moves.

c. myositis ossificans

Insufficiently trained or injured muscles are subjected to a heavy exercise load, which causes muscles to become inflammatory due to injuries. Can be divided into fibromyositis and osteomyelitis. Fibrosis is a period of time when muscles recover. If a heavy load is applied before the muscles are fully recovered, the fibrotic muscles will be inflamed and osteomyelitis will be formed.

d. arthritis

There are many causes of arthritis. Arthritis related to sports injuries refers to joints that are overloaded or given a heavy load without proper training, causing joint injuries and degenerative lesions. Symptoms include pain and tenderness, but they do not necessarily become swollen. There are often sounds when joints move, and sometimes there is swelling, pain or weakness.

e. Bursitis

The synovial sac plays an important role as a buffer near the joint. Once the joint is overloaded or injured, it will often cause inflammation of the synovial sac. Symptoms include swelling, tenderness, and joint movement disorders. Sometimes the symptoms are similar to arthritis and difficult to diagnose.

f. fatigue fracture

Under long-term excessive use of the bone, pressure fractures will form at the main pressure points. The symptom is that the injured part will continue to have pain and tingling sensation during exercise, and the symptoms at rest will be significantly relieved. It often occurs in the tibia and sacrum of long-distance runners.

g. Improper disposal of acute injury

Acute injuries are not handled properly, causing sports injuries to be difficult to recover, and even worsening or long-term sequelae, such as "habitual dislocation of the shoulder joint" and "recurrent sprains of the ankle joint".

The above information is excerpted from "Sports and Physiology" by Dr. Wang Shunzheng of Sun Yat-sen University.

Sports injury ankle sprain

Ankle sprains need to be careful whether there are fractures, dislocations, or other tendons and other tissues are also injured together, the treatment is different. Simple ligament sprains are classified into three levels according to severity:

First degree ligament sprain-caused by lighter external force, only a few ligament fibers were injured. Only minor swelling or blood stasis occurred during the injury. The function and strength of the ligament were not affected, and it usually healed within a week or two. .

Second degree ligament sprain-The joint is twisted by a strong external force. There are more fibers in the entire ligament. There are more obvious and lasting swelling and stasis. The ligament is stretched when injured. And strength will weaken, and recovery will take longer.

Third degree ligament sprain (or complete rupture of the ligament)-The joint is subjected to a large external force that breaks at least one of the ligaments. Obvious swelling and blood stasis, the pain may not be as severe as the second sprain (because the entire ligament is broken), but there is abnormal loosening or instability of the joint, the joint function is severely affected, and it is easy to Injuries and other tissues are also affected, and degenerative arthritis or habitual dislocation are possible sequelae in the future.

If there is a fracture, not only will there be obvious and long-lasting swelling and pain, before the fracture site has healed, joint movements, weight bearing, or impact movements will be particularly painful and unable to perform.

Full ligament healing takes 6-12 weeks, and lower limb fracture healing usually takes 2-3 months.

In terms of treatment, in addition to the PRICE (protection, rest, ice, compression, and elevation) in the acute phase, the second degree of ligament sprain, the most important is to give proper protection before the ligament has healed, so as not to Poor healing can lengthen the healing time, or the ligaments become longer, causing joints to become loose and easily injured again.

Three to four days after the injury, the swelling has reached its peak. When the swelling does not continue to expand, you can stop the ice pack and exercise in warm water. Do it 2-3 times a day until the swelling and pain disappear. When the water is not soaking, you need to use protective equipment to limit the movement of the ankle joint so that it does not produce an inversion or tighten the injured ligament.

There are many types of protective equipment, and the more effective one is to use plastic handguards or stents to fix it (even some orthopedists claim to simply cast plaster, on the one hand, the protection effect is more reliable, on the other hand, "bearing plaster "Weight bearing cast allows the injured person to walk directly, which is more convenient for movement.) Second is the sticking of adhesive tape. As for the general elastic bandage or sheath, it is less reliable. The fixed period takes 2-3 weeks. During this period, crutches may be needed to help walk. The principle is that the injured foot does not need to lay on the ground. . If after the fixation period, the swelling and pain are still present, or the ankle joint is still painful, you must extend the fixation time for another 2-3 weeks until it is completely healed.

The third degree of ligament sprain is similar to the second degree sprain, but it is best to fix it with plaster, and the fixing time should be extended to six weeks. After removing the plaster, you must continue to use protective equipment for six weeks. In other words, it takes twelve weeks (almost three months) to protect the function and strength of the ligament. The full strength before injury is almost three to six months after the injury, and it takes a period of physical therapy to improve joint mobility and strengthen muscle strength.

Regarding the rehabilitation of sprained ankle, please refer to the book "Sports Medicine Lecture" written by Dr. Lai Jinxin. Although the book has been in existence for more than ten years, the principles of treatment and rehabilitation of ankle sprains have not changed much in this decade.

After ankle sprains recover, the common fault (error) is: haste is not achieved. Almost everyone at RICE knows that the importance of two P (protection measures) (prevention to prevent re-injury) is often ignored. [If you add S (Support functional support, such as application of sticking), it will become 2PRICES! ] The general public may only need to rest for a week or two after twisting to the ankle. This is usually because the degree of injury is minor (first ligament sprain), and at the same time, it can be truly rested. However, athletes often have more serious injuries, and the functional requirements of joints after recovery are far more than the general public. Therefore, they must be carefully handled during treatment to avoid long-term sequelae.