Broken bones are a frequent injury type for many contact sports. People running at full speed making contact with an obstacle (such as another person) can easily break bones on impact.
A common football injury type, ligament damage such as meniscal tears or ACL/PCL tears can be permanently debilitating if severe enough.
Impacts to the head that occur when a contact sport player is tackled or slips and falls on the field can have far-reaching consequences. If an impact is severe enough, it can cause a traumatic brain injury—which is difficult to diagnose on the field. This, in turn, leads to critically-injured players attempting to continue the game instead of seeking proper treatment.
One of the worst possible contact sports injuries a player can suffer is a spinal cord injury. The nature and severity of an SCI can vary depending on the circumstances involved. For example, a football injury where the player’s neck/head impacts the ground at an odd angle may result in a cervical spinal cord injury, which is one of the most severe and limiting forms of SCI.
When it comes to contact sports injury, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Some basic measures to prevent contact sports injuries include:
While following these safety guidelines won’t stop contact sports injuries entirely, doing so can help to minimize risk and lessen the severity of injuries.
