Do you love playing sports? If yes, you most likely have suffered a sports-related injury. Even professional athletes, no matter how well-prepared they are, will still get an injury sooner or later. After all, sports are physically demanding.
If you are in New Jersey and get injured while playing? It’s best to go to Diligent Urgent Care for, well, urgent care in Union City, NJ for sports injuries. Walk-ins are very much welcome, and we are well-equipped to treat any sports-related injury you might get. In fact, here’s a list of common sports injuries that we treat at Diligient Urgent Care.
Back pain
One of the most common injuries you can get from sports is back pain. You may feel it while in the middle of the action, like when you’re going for a rebound. You can also feel it the day after you have played. You know you have serious back pain when the following happens:
- You feel a shooting pain that feels like electricity shooting up your spine
- The pain doesn’t go away or returns even after icing the sore spot or you do other home remedies or you drink pain killers
- You feel stiffness especially after being still for a long period of time
- You have trouble sleeping because of the pain
- Your lower legs have tingling or feel numb
Anytime you feel that your back pain is serious, don’t second guess yourself. We suggest setting an appointment immediately with us, especially if it has been two weeks already.
Strains and Sprains
These two kinds of injuries can pop up in any sport. Both involve the stretching or tearing of your tissue. When it’s your ligaments – which connect bones – that are affected, that’s called a sprain. Strains, on the other hand, are related to muscles or tendons, the ones that connect muscle to bones.
Strains are probably the most common of all sports-related injuries. The reason for this is because people playing sports use a lot of muscles and tendons. These muscles can be stretched farther than normal or be moved in the wrong way. The end result is that these muscles become torn and damaged. Examples of muscles that can be strained are the hamstrings and quadriceps.
Sprains, compared to strains, are more painful and have a longer healing time. The sprained part must also be restrained or immobilized to protect against any more injury. The problem also with sprains is that they leave the ligaments weak, and vulnerable to any future sprains.
Broken bones
Broken bones are also known as fractures. Fractures can range from thin bone cracks to a complete break of the bone. Bones can break in two, into many pieces, in one place, or in many places. They break because your bone suddenly encounters more pressure than it can support. For example, you jump up, and when you land, you only land one one foot instead of two. A fracture can also occur if you fall hard or get a direct hit to a bone. It’s not impossible to get a broken orbital bone in boxing, for example.
When the bone breaks, it is very painful. It’s not impossible for you to pass out. It will also be hard for you to move or to touch the injured body part. If you’re not sure if anything is broken, check the following symptoms:
- There’s a sound of a snap when the injury occurs
- There is swelling, redness, and bruising
- You are having difficulty supporting weight with the injured part
In the case of bone poking through your skin, visit us immediately. That is a serious injury and needs to be treated right away.
Neck pain
Neck pain is another common and still very serious injury that can happen in sports. It’s important to have your neck checked if you feel any pain. After all, it’s the one connecting your head and brain to your body. If you damage your neck, it can result in many other injuries.
Neck pain can mean many things, including the following:
- Neck spasms – This is another result of overuse of the neck. The muscles in your neck and upper back become hard and painful.
- Stingers – This happens when a nerve is either suddenly compressed or stretched. You’ll get a shooting pain from your neck down into your shoulder, and sometimes even reaching your arm. And aside from the numbness, you might also feel numbness, tingling, and weakness. You are likely to get this injury in high impact contact sports, like football. Stingers generally disappear after a few minutes but some may last for days and even weeks. Some would even require physical therapy to be treated.
- Neck fractures – When it comes to neck pain, this is the most serious one. If something wrong happens, you could end up with an injured spinal cord. That would result in paralysis.
Tendonitis
Tendonitis or tendinitis are the same things. It’s is a condition where tendons between your muscles and bones get inflamed. Common tendons that are affected are in the shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle. This condition usually lasts for a period of around ten days or less. Tendon injures happen because of overuse of the muscle group. That’s the reason why these injuries occur a lot for athletes who do the same thing again and again, like baseball players. Signs of tendonitis are pain and swelling, and the thickening of the injured tendon. We can accurately diagnose this if ever you suspect tendonitis using movement tests, x-rays, and MRIs.
Sciatica
Ever feel pain and numbness running down your back and legs, making it hard for you to move? That’s the sciatic nerve. There are some sports that cause the sciatic nerve to be pinched. And when it gets pinched, you experience sciatica. The ones who normally experience this are golfers and tennis players because of how they twist their torsos while playing. But even if you are not a golfer or tennis player, it is still possible to experience this. And if you get this, do not force yourself to play or be active until it gets treated. Rest and stretching won’t really help – best to see us immediately.
Prevention is still better than cure.
As much as we at Diligent Urgent Health Care would love to see you at our clinic and help you out, we’d still want you to stay as injury-free as possible. So remember, when playing sports, prepare your body as much as possible. Stretch, warm up, and hydrate. Wear the correct shoes and wear the correct protective equipment. Be a smart athlete so you can enjoy playing sports for many years to come. As much as we love your passion for your sport, make sure to not take too many risks. You might win one game as a result of your injury, but your injury may affect you for the rest of your life. Go for the win, but always stay safe!
P.S. Diligent Urgent Health not only caters to sports injuries but a whole lot more! Browse our website and check out the different services we can do to help you get better.
