Most Common Injuries in Each Sport
Sports injuries are an inevitable part of living an active life, and although ensuring your body is functioning at its optimum decreases the likelihood of getting injured, there are still inherent risks associated with each sport.
But what injuries occur most commonly in each sport?
Basketball
It should come as little concern that in a sport with rapid changes of direction and repetitive jumping and landing that ankle sprains are by far and away the most common injuries amongst basketball players.
Research shows that the majority of sprains occur on landing and that regular proprioceptive training can decrease incidence.
Cricket
There are stark differences between bowlers, particularly pace bowlers, and batsmen when it comes to cricketing injuries.
Ignoring skill specific differences, cricket players as a whole experience more hamstring strains than any other type of injury.
Cycling
Cycling injuries are on the increase due to the meteoric rise in popularity.
The most common cycling injury is patellofemoral pain syndrome, with other knee injuries such as iliotibial band syndrome coming close behind.
Football
The most common football injuries are hamstring strains or tears. Perhaps surprisingly, there is no relationship between which leg gets injured and which is the dominant leg.
One of the most effective ways at preventing hamstring injuries is eccentric loading. Nordic Curls have been shown to be particularly useful at reducing injury rates.
Golf
Many golfers will have heard of Golfer’s elbow, the opposite of tennis elbow, being on the inside of the elbow. Despite the name, however, Golfer’s elbow is not that common amongst golf players.
The most common type of injury amongst golfers is lower back pain, usually caused by twisting through the spine rather than the hips.
Overall, golf scores very highly in terms of injury risk, with as many as 63% of golfers getting injured in any 12 month period.
Rowing
Most rowers will experience lower back pain at some point, with the repeated bending at the waist putting great stress on the lumbar spine. Not surprisingly, this region is injured more than any other amongst rowers, whether sweep or scull.
Interestingly, rib fractures are the second most common type of injury amongst rowers. This is not due to impacts with errant blades, but results from repetitive strain, leading to stress fractures.
Rugby
Rugby injuries vary substantially dependant on position, with forwards tending to experience more upper body injuries than backs.
Despite slightly differing injury profiles, and ignoring concussions and bruises, hamstring tears are the most frequent injuries amongst rugby players, be they forwards or backs.
Running
Aptly named Runner’s Knee, patellofemoral pain syndrome affects runners more than any other injury. Correct running technique is an important determinant of injury likelihood.
Squash
Predictably, most squash injuries occur as a result of racquet or ball impacts. Putting these to one side, as with other high agility sports, hamstring and knee injuries are amongst the most common, but even these are still overtaken by ankle sprains.
Badminton has a remarkably similar injury profile to squash.
Tennis
Despite having its own eponymous condition, Tennis Elbow (otherwise known as lateral epicondylitis), the most common injuries amongst tennis players are ankle sprains.
Knee injuries are also commonplace, with most falling into the bracket of patellofemoral pain syndrome.
Worcester Chiropractic Clinic for Sports Injuries
There are clear patterns in injury prevalence from sport to sport.
Those with explosive straight line sprints such as football, rugby and cricket, tend to have higher incidences of hamstring tears.
Sports requiring leaping and bounding, or rapid changes of direction, typical of racquet sports, have a high risk of ankle sprains, whilst endurance activities have a high occurrence of knee injuries.
Sport specific training regimes should target more vulnerable areas of the body based on current research.
Our chiropractors work with coaches and trainers all over Worcestershire and beyond to design and adjust training programmes to best protect athletes from injury.
For more information please contact us.
