Thursday, November 4, 2010

Top 5 Scary Sports Injuries

Top 5 Scary Sports Injuries
By guest author: Heidi Mills

We've all seen them on television; those injuries that make you squirm as the player writhes around in agony! With Halloween coming up....here's our list of the scariest sports injuries. They may not be the worst, but these are the most common injuries which scare both the player and the spectators!

5. Olecranon bursitis

Olecaranon bursitis is also sometimes known as student's elbow. It is an inflammation of the bursa which sits at the tip of the Humerus bone at the elbow. This can occur as an overuse type injury from excessive leaning on the elbow (hence student's elbow). It can also occur from a direct impact to the elbow - and this is the scary part! This can swell up, almost instantly, to be the size of a large egg, causing quite a shock to the player and spectators alike!

4. Achilles tendon rupture

The Achilles tendon is the thick band which attaches the calf muscles to the heel.A ruptured Achilles is a pretty common injury in both sports and everyday life. The scary thing about it is the noise it can make. This has often been described as sounding like a gunshot! Imagine hearing a noise that loud from your ankle!

3. Shoulder dislocation

Shoulder dislocations are pretty common especially in contact sports such as rugby. Dislocations which do not instantly reduce (pop back in) usually result in deformation at the shoulder. This can be quite a scary sight! The head of the Humerus (upper arm bone) can protrude out forwards, backwards or even underneath into the armpit!

2. Open fractures

An open fracture is a break in the bone where the end of the bone breaks the skin and protrudes through. As you can imagine (unless you have been unfortunate enough to see one), this can look pretty gruesome as the limb may looked deformed and, unlike the other injuries in this list, there may be a fair bit of blood!

And at Number 1:

1. Ankle fracture/dislocation

This injury (or really a group of injuries) occur frequently from bad (often two footed) tackles in football (soccer). What may happen is a fracture of both the Tibia and Fibula (lower leg bones).

Alternatively, a dislocation may occur, which is when all three main ligaments at the ankle (anterior talofibular, calcaneofibular and posterior talofibular) are ruptured. This results in the foot bones being unattached to the lower leg bones, other than the support of the surrounding tendons. This results in a very unstable joint.

The reason it is at the top of this list? Just have a look at the injuries sustained in the Premier League by players including Aaron Ramsey, Cisse and Eduardo to see the lower part of the limb bent in all directions and in some cases wobbling around freely! If you do decide to look, just make sure you have a strong stomach!

Heidi Mills (BSc Hons) is a Graduate Sports Rehabilitator who runs a clinic in Norwich (UK). She also works for http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net


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