Types of Sports Injuries. Acute or chronic?
It depends on where the injury occurs within the body and how serious it is. Sports injuries or the body are usually categorized in one of two ways: acute or chronic.
Types of Sports Injuries – Acute injuries
Types of injuries refer to sports injuries that happen suddenly. The most common cases of acute injuries are contusions, tendon and muscle strains, ligament sprains and bone fractures. Acute injuries cause weakness, tenderness, swelling, pain and the inability to use or put weight on the injured area.
Types of Sports Injuries – Chronic injuries
Sports injuries which occur over a longer time period are referred to as overuse injuries. Signs and symptoms of injuries are stress fractures, tendinitis and bursitis. Chronic injuries lead to weakness, tenderness, swelling, pain and the inability to use or put weight on the area.
Types of Sports Injuries – Classification of sports injuries
In addition to classifying sports injuries as acute or chronic, sports injuries can also be categorized according to their severity. Injuries are graded as mild, moderate and severe.
Mild
Mild sports injuries will have less swelling and pain. It will not affect athletic performance and the affected area is not tender to touch and not deformed at all.
Moderate
A moderate sports injury involves swelling and some pain. It will have a limiting effect on athletic performance and the area that is affected will be tender to touch. There might be some discolouration at the injury.
Severe
A severe sports injury will result in swelling and more pain. It will affect sporting performance and normal daily tasks. The injury site is usually tender to touch, and deformity and discolouration are common.