No athlete or sportsman in the world can escape injuries and that’s a part of their lives which every athlete must accept. However, there are certain injuries which can be so devastating and long term that they can potentially end careers, or at least shorten them significantly if not treated in time. It doesn’t matter if you are a professional or an amateur, if you have reason to suspect or you know for a fact that you have any of the following four injuries, consult a doctor and the St George Physical Therapy Center as soon as possible.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Tear
A common and feared injury among basketball players and football players, the ACL tear can cause an athlete to lose nearly 90% of the affected leg’s stability and ability to make sudden, dynamic movements. If you are unfortunate enough to tear your ACL ligament, expect to be out of the game and in rehab for at least a year, and that’s with proper treatment and care. Keep in mind that athletes from fields other than football and basketball also suffer from the injury and one of the best examples of that would be Tiger Woods.
Ulnar Collateral Ligament Tear
Baseball pitchers throw at incredible speeds and that speed often comes at a cost. Among a series of injuries that plague pitchers, the Ulnar Collateral Ligament tear is one of the most serious. Surgery is the only way to go after suffering the injury and even that isn’t always successful. A torn Ulnar Collateral Ligament basically signals that the pitcher is going to be absent from action for roughly a period of 12 – 18 months.
Vertebral Injuries
We all know what a vertebral injury can do to any of us, but athletes risk such injuries each and every time they step onto the field or inside a ring. Football players, soccer players, ice hockey players, rugby players, wrestlers, MMA fighters and other full contact sportsmen and athletes are at most risk of injuring their vertebrae. Not only can a vertebral injury end careers, it can completely or partially paralyze the injured person for life.
Concussions
Any injury to the head that jars the brain is classified as a concussion. The severity of a concussion varies so widely that it’s impossible to say what will happen when. There are people who have died from severe concussions and there are others who have shaken it off in a matter of hours. Although there aren’t any particular signs of a concussion that accompany every case, the typical ones include temporary amnesia, headache, passing out, slowed brain functions, nausea, balancing issues, anxiety, unusually long sleeping sessions, etc.
It should be noted that although breaking a leg wasn’t included in the list, they are quite common among sportsmen and while most broken legs heal completely when treated in time and followed up by proper physiotherapy, they can put an athlete out of action for well over a year.