Traumatic Injury
Injury or bodily injury is damage or harm caused to the structure or function of the body caused by an outside agent or force, which may be physical or chemical, and either by accident or intentional. Personal Injury also refers to damage caused to the reputation of another rather than physical harm to the body.
Common Traumatic Injuries
ACL Damage
ACL Damageis an injury to the anterior cruciate ligament that can be a debilitating musculoskeletal injury seen most often in athletes. Non-contact tears and ruptures are the most common causes of ACL injury.
ACL injuries occur when an athlete rapidly decelerates, followed by a sharp or sudden change in direction (cutting). ACL failure has been linked to heavy or stiff-legged landing; as well as twisting or turning the knee while landing, especially when the knee is in the valgus (knock-knee) position.
Fracture
A bone may be completely fractured or partially fractured in any number of ways (cross-wise, lengthwise, in the middle).
There are five type of fractures:
- Closed or simple fracture. The bone is broken, but the skin is not lacerated.
- Open or compound fracture. The skin may be pierced by the bone or by a blow that breaks the skin at the time of the fracture.
- Transverse fracture. The fracture is at right angles to the long axis of the bone.
- Greenstick fracture. Fracture on one side of the bone, causing a bend on the other side of the bone.
- Comminuted fracture. A fracture that results in three or more bone fragments.
MCL Injury
The medial collateral ligament of the knee is one of the four major ligaments of the knee. It is on the medial (inner) side of the knee joint in humans and other primates. It is also known as the tibial collateral ligament, or abbreviated as the MCL.
An MCL injury can be very painful and is often caused when the knee bends the wrong way when landing, or on high impact. It can take between 2 and 10 weeks for the injury to fully heal. It is difficult to apply pressure on the injured leg for at least a few days.
Impingement
Primary shoulder problems may cause pain over the deltoid muscle that is made worse by abduction against resistance, called the impingement sign. Impingement reflects pain arising from the rotator cuff but cannot distinguish between inflammation, strain, or tear. Patients may report their experience with the impingement sign when they report that they are unable to reach upwards to brush their hair or to reach in front to lift a can of beans up from an overhead shelf.
Rotator Cuff Injury
Rotator cuff tears are tears of one, or more, of the four tendons of the rotator cuff muscles. A rotator cuff injury can include any type of irritation or damage to your rotator cuff muscles or tendons.
The rotator cuff muscles, a group of four muscles that surround the shoulder, are the: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor and subscapularis. The four rotator cuff muscle tendons combine to form a broad, conjoined tendon, called the rotator cuff tendon, and insert onto the bone of the humeral head in the shoulder.The tendons of the rotator cuff, not the muscles, are most commonly torn. Many rotator cuff tears cause no pain nor produce any symptoms, and are known to have an increasing incidence with increasing age. The most frequent cause of rotator cuff damage is age related degeneration and less frequently by sports injuries or trauma.