Broken Bones
Bone injuries don’t fool anyone. When you break an arm or leg, dislocate your shoulder, or fracture your foot or collarbone, you’ll know it. The pain from the bone breaks is usually unbearable, forcing you to stop your activity. School athletes usually do not play with broken arms or legs – it is too painful.

SUDDEN/ACUTE INJURIES

Torn Ligaments
Sudden injuries to ligaments, like those around the knee, are particularly concerning to school athletes. A torn ligament could cause a person to miss the remaining part of a season and possibly be damaged beyond repair. The knee has four separate ligaments; two, the MCL and ACL, are particularly at risk.

MCL Injuries
The MCL, or medial collateral ligament, is located on the inside of the knee joint. This is a particularly vulnerable ligament and can be severely injured due to stress and overuse, as well as through a number of everyday sports scenarios. Injuries to your MCL, usually involve a partial or complete tear or rip, in the ligament. The MCL helps keep your knee joint stable, but minor tears aren’t always serious – if treated. When you tear a ligament in your MCL, you will experience pain and swelling on the inside of your knee. Your movement will become seriously limited. If rested, minor tears will heal within a few weeks. Left untreated, minor tears can lead to major tears from overuse. Think of your knee operating at about half the power and capability when you have a partial tear; using it as you had before would be an awful idea. Major or complete MCL tears can often require surgery and months of rehabilitation.

ACL Injuries
The other main ligament in the knee is the ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament.  This ligament stretches from the bottom of the thigh to the top front of shin bone.  This is a commonly damaged ligament, and treatment is essential.  You can tear this ligament by suddenly changing directions while running, stopping quickly, running downhill, twisting your knee, or simply from receiving a powerful blow to the knee. When you fully tear your ACL, you should hear a distinctive popping sound. The symptoms include swelling, difficulty walking, knee locking during walking, and pain and tenderness. Serious tears usually require surgery, special exercises and rehabilitation for many months. You may be 100% after 8 or 9 months.

Ligament injuries can be serious, but they are rare. In many cases, the tear is minimal and can be treated with rest, ice, and compression. Playing with a ligament tear can weaken your ligament beyond repair, causing weakness in the limb for the rest of your life.

Ankle Sprains
Sprain injuries are very common in school sports and are often overlooked by athletes.  The most common sprains in school sports usually occur in the leg, and the most common particular sprain by far is the ankle sprain.  While long term effects may be minimal, serious sprains require just as much care as broken limbs.  Preventing sprains is difficult, as most sprain injuries occur instantaneously.  For instance, in a basketball game you jump up to grab a rebound. As you come down, the side of your foot lands on the edge of someone else’s, your ankle rolls over, and your momentum carries you down, as all the pressure and weight of your body is applied to the side of your ankle. The ligaments on the inside of your ankle are more stable and stronger. As a result, most ankle sprains consist of the ankle turning inward, over-stretching and often tearing of the ligaments on the outside of the ankle. Ankle sprains are ligament injuries as well, and immediate attention is extremely important. If you apply ice right away, you can reduce swelling and the overall length of the injury by as much as 75%.  There are also many other strategies to treat ankle sprains (see ‘how to’ section).

Muscle Injuries (pulled muscles)  
Muscle injuries are the easiest injuries to prevent. The most common reasons for a pulled muscle are tight, cold muscles. In school sports, muscles are pulled everyday.  In the leg, the three main muscles are the quadriceps, the hamstring and the calf muscles.  Pulling these muscles is easy to do if they are tight and cold, and can be brought on by a minimal amount of stress or strain on the muscle. Severe muscle pulls are slow to heal, and although there aren’t usually any long term effects, they can be very difficult to deal with. 

A severely pulled quadriceps muscle, which is located in the front of the thigh, could take up to a month to fully heal. During this time, you will only notice extensive pain or tenderness when stress or strain are applied to it. You won’t notice the injury while walking, but if you run or try to kick a ball, it can be very painful. Muscle strains or pulls are extremely common to varying different degrees, but the simplest and best defense against this injury is stretching.

STRESS/OVERUSE INJURIES

Stress Fractures
A stress fracture is a small hairline crack in a particular bone. Stress fractures are usually caused by overuse or the result of taking up a new sport. As you start a new sport, a particular bone that had never had any large amount of strain or pressure placed on it may suddenly experience extensive pressure and strain on it frequently. Often, these cracks are so small that even an x-ray can fail to pick it up. If the sport is continued however, the crack can grow and become a major problem. Symptoms of stress fractures include sharp pain at the site of the fracture, which is likely to increase as more and more pressure is placed on the fractured bone. Playing through minor stress fractures is possible, as the pain is often only minimal, but it is a unique new pain, and one that will only grow with overuse. The best way to prevent and heal stress fractures is to ease into new sports, not overworking your bones. When a small fracture does occur, rest until the pain is gone (usually a week or so) and then slowly resume the sport.

Shin Splints
Shin splints are a nagging but serious problem that occurs in many young athletes.  Shin splints are caused be too much pounding of the lower leg through running and jumping on hard surfaces. Runners are usually the athletes who experience this injury the most, but it also affects many basketball and tennis players.  The pain in shin splints is caused by the swelling of the thin fibers that covers bones. These fibers are called tendons, and they attach muscles to bones. Symptoms of shin splints include pain and tenderness in the shin area as well as minimal but noticeable swelling. The pain is usually more severe when pressure or weight is applied to the shins. Ignoring shin splints can lead to serious bone fractures and leg swelling. The best treatment is reducing the stomping activity, and taking up activities that don’t involve any heavy stepping. Ice is also helpful here, but shin splints are serious, and they won’t just “go away”. 

Other types of stress injuries include tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and the like. Stress injuries can affect a number of different areas of the body, such as tendons, bones, and muscles.  Most stress injuries, especially in athletes, occur in the legs because the legs support the weight of our entire body, and are likely to be overused and strained.

Injuries of all types can have long-term effects if not properly treated.  With people under 20, damage to the ends of certain bones and ligaments can often damage growth plates, causing growth problems if they aren’t treated.