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Common Injuries in Athletics
Common Injuries of the Neck/Back
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- Fractures
- Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine fractures.
Common in impact sports, such as football and hockey.
Caused by direct impact over spine, severe flexion or extension of spine, axial loading, and severe twisting of spine.
Symptoms - Point tenderness over fracture site, restricted movement, muscle spasm, pain in spine and extremities, numbness in trunk and extremities, and weakness or paralysis in limbs. - Dislocations
- Cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine dislocations.
Common in football and hockey.
Caused by violent flexing or extending of the spine along with twisting.
Symptoms - Similar to symptoms of spinal fractures. Pain, numbness, muscle weakness, or paralysis. - Sprains
- Neck and back sprains.
Common in contact sports, such as football, hockey, and wrestling.
Caused by a whiplash motion or hyperflexion or hyperextension.
Symptoms - Soreness in neck, tender over transverse and spinous processes of vertebrae where ligaments attach. - Strains
- Low back muscle strains.
Common in impact sports, such as football, hockey, soccer, and wrestling.
Caused by a sudden extension contraction on an overloaded, unprepared, or underdeveloped spine in combination with trunk rotation.
Symptoms - Low back pain and discomfort, pain on active extension and passive flexion.
