Things You Need to Know About Knee Injuries

We sometimes disregard knee injuries, but knee injuries are known one of the major sports injury around the world. In the field of sprint running alone, 60% of the athletes around the world have experienced injury in a year and almost 20% of their injuries are knee injuries.

The knee injury I'm talking about is in no difference to the kind of injuries that are common sports injuries sustained in school sports activities. Because as you all know, sports in school are also sports after all. But with all these facts, the general public is still nonchalant about the advantages of knee support or the other basic principles that should be applied to help prevent knee injuries.

Many aren't aware that the knee is the largest joint in the body. Made up of bones, muscles, tendons, cartilage, and by the very controversial ligaments. These components are the most common and have major involvement in sports injury. It is really unpredictable the sudden occurrence of knee injuries and some of the complicated issues. The lack of advocacy also causes the negligence on this major injury to the athletes and even to the ordinary people. People that have visited doctors about their knee problems have heard from their doctors that they stressed or over use their knees. In scientific terms, the condition that is said to be the over use of the knee is called iliotibial band syndrome (ITBS). This is one of the most common knee injuries. This injury is caused by the sudden weakness and and inflexibility which is an effect of the stressed knee and some other factors. As a matter of fact this certain condition can hit an athlete even if he's just on the warm up stage.

Almost all knee injuries are very delicate and should be taken with precaution in order not to be in a worse stage. There are several number of common knee injuries. Maybe one of the most common is a sprained knee, means you have stressed your knee or worse, you tore a ligament. And the other type of this injury is straining the knee. This means you either tore a muscle or tendon.

An injury called tendonitis happens when a tendon is inflamed. This commonly occurs when you damaged your menisci during active motions especially in sports. This injury abruptly happen, mostly when doing a side to side movement or when doing a sudden shift in speed that can cause it to tear.

A more serious knee injury compare to tendonitis is when your cartilage got injured. This happens when a small piece of bone or cartilage chips off, this will cause to a temporary immobilization of the knee and the experience of long term pain in the knee.

A disease called Osgood Schlatter-Disease named after the American surgeon Robert Bayley Osgood (1873-1956) and the Swiss surgeon Carl Schlatter (1864-1934), who independently described the said disease in 1903. This particular disease is common in teenagers aged between 10-15, especially if they are having a growth spurt. One of the typical symptoms can be confirmed when a continuous pain is being felt just below the front of the kneecap on the tibia, this pain gets worse when continuous activity is practiced. Sometimes, with just a light bump below the knee joint is already painful. The Osgood Schlatter-Disease is common to boys who especially play sports that involve extraneous running and kicking, or jumping. These activities put strain on the quadriceps muscles that causes the said disease.

Sometimes called the "career ending" injury, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is probably one of the most feared knee injury. This major injury in the knee is usually caused by a sudden twist or making an incorrect landing after a jump. This will cause a tear on the ACL. In fact many star athletes seen completely deteriorated even after recovering from an ACL injury. Although more male suffers from this injury, but ironically women athletes are eight times more prone from damaging their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) than men. Sadly, everyone especially athletes could suffer knee injuries. Nobody is immune from it. Some athletes like former NBA star Anfernee Hardaway is in peak of his career when knee injuries haunted his career. Even though he later recovered from his knee injuries, his game was never the same again. Last year, he retired in the game of basketball.

If you suffer an injury even if it is just minor, it is advised to do the RICE therapy (Rest, Ice, Compress, Elevate). In some cases, wearing a knee brace can help. But in most cases if you suffer from major injury such as a torn ACL, a surgery is needed for you to recover from it for you to be able to resume you usual activity. Just like any diseases and injuries, prevention is always better than cure. It is a basic necessity to wear the appropriate equipment for your sports before participating. Knee support can be a help stabilizing your movements and help your knee prevent extraneous movements that causes injury. The secret in keeping yourself out of injury is a disciplined habit of warming up, stretching and cooling down before and after doing sports. Also consider building and strengthening your muscles through weightlifting. This could somehow decrease the chances on having of sports injury.

Sometimes we get over excited when playing sports, especially when the game gets into our adrenalines. But still we should try to maintain our awareness and still try to take precaution when jumping, landing, running or even when having physical contact during a game. And last but not least is our diet, always remember what we eat is what we eat is what we are. A healthy eating habit makes our bones, muscles, and our whole system in a normal level that keeps us performing and moving comfortably and play our game in our whole potential. So keep your knee healthy and play on the top of your game and stay out of injuries.