Four kinds of athletic pains, not to ignore.....adults or kids!

Schools and colleges have just opened again and the kids have started to practice and play various sports. As they will play, they will fall often, get up and continue but some injuries will be not as trivial. Contrary to popular belief most of us parents actually tend to 'under-react' as long the child says he or she is 'ok"? Most of the times thats usually the case and with ice, a couple of days of rest and some OTC painkillers kids jump back to normal and we all happily forget about the injures.

I thought this will be a good time to write a short blog about the sign and symptoms of sports injuries which we just should not ignore. A quick visit to the local urgent care if not the ER is indeed needed to make sure that the  injury is minor and not something serious. Urgent care visit will make sure that all is really 'ok" and you can still be sure of the homework been done that night.

Athletes really can tolerate more pain than the average person, so we have to take into the account the signs that come with the normal complaints of pain. The tricky part here is to decode the symptoms. Here are four signs you shouldn’t ignore while dealing with an injured athlete at home or even after a minor play ground incident in younger children.

1: Sharp, stabbing, shooting pain.

The mundane muscle and ligament injuries generally will not last more than a few days and will more be of a nagging soreness in nature than sharp localized pain. Soreness is not be be worried about but the localized pain, the kind that can be 'pin-pointed' to a specific part of the body and is persistent for more than 24 hours is to be worried about! Joint injuries as in the ankle where the range of motion is restricted and/or painful may be an issue. If the shoulder cannot be raised beyond a certain point will generally mean bigger issue than the simple muscle soreness. Sharp pains can be signs of everything from muscle spasms to strains or tears. It may even be a fracture and will not even show up on an X-ray done right away due to swelling and a repeat x-ray may be needed to confirm the doubt. So do not ignore any sharp pain in a joint at all. Most of the times you cannot weight-bear if there is a fracture but then some muscle injures can cause non weight bearing too and its best for a doctor to check it out.

2: Swelling

If a joint in question is visibly bigger than the other and even if its not an excruciating pain, swelling is a sign that something’s wrong. Pain depends on whether or not the muscle tear is complete—when it is, you can sometimes feel less pain, A ligament tear like an ACL usually causes swelling within hours of an injury. The area will be discolored and swelling will look like a tennis ball. A joint fracture like I mentioned is easy to notice as the pain will be immense and the joint will 'limp over' and will NOT weight bear or be able to lift up at all. Go to the ER or urgent care quickly.

3: Lightheadedness
“Hypoglycemia or low blood sugar" in college athletes sometimes very common when they try to do a heavy workout early in the morning without enough carbohydrates in their system. Low blood sugar can leave them feeling dizzy and lightheaded. It can lead to fainting and might end up in falling over. Taking rest and ingesting some sugar should help right away but more than fainting I will get worried about the resultant injury from the actual fall. Athletes need to have healthy carbs in the system especially before a long training session. Lots of clear fluids in the system will help keep the heat stroke away too.

4: Head injury, which gives a feeling of "not being well"

“Don’t put yourself at risk to take another blow to your head until you’ve recovered from the previous one,” says Allen Sills, M.D., professor of Neurological Surgery, Vanderbilt University. “Minor injuries add up to catastrophic ones.” I think these are some very wise statements and older kids generally boys don't tend to adhere to these advices. With a recent head injury of any kind, even a minor head bump which is not a full blown 'blow to the head' causing dizziness, sensitivity to light or noise, or fogginess, and/or throwing up should never be ignored and a visit to ER or even a 911 call would not be an over-reaction. It can be a precursor to a major head injury and can even be fatal. There are many studies that have proved that repeated head injuries can cause decreased mental function over time.

In conclusion if there is even a one percent chance that the injury is more than minor, it needs to be checked out by a Doctor and a few hours in the waiting rooms are well worth it. As usual email me for any further clarifications or questions.

~Dr V.

References:
images: www.healthofchildren.com