Sports Injuries

What are common sports injuries?

Sports are a great way to keep your body in shape and exercise. However, injuries are common when active in sports, especially with improper training or inadequate gear.

If you don’t warm up properly or take time for stretching, you’re more likely to suffer from a sports injury. There are many types of injuries related to physical activity, including:

• Dislocations
• Fractures
• Sprains and strains
• Knee injuries
• Shoulder injuries
• Achilles tendon injuries

ACL tears in your knee and rotator cuff injuries in your shoulder are common in sports like basketball, soccer, and football. However, these injuries occur in just about any sport that exerts pressure on these areas of your body.

What tests are used to diagnose sports injuries?

X-Rays are often used as the first line of diagnosing an acute injury because they’re readily available and don’t require any prep for the study. Although they don’t show a lot of detail, they find a problem quickly.

Sometimes, you’ll need an MRI after an X-Ray to determine the extent of your injury. In addition, your provider may order a CT scan when more detail is required for a proper diagnosis and treatment plan.

How do an X-ray and MRI differ when diagnosing injuries?

X-Rays and MRIs do differ when it comes to evaluating your sports injury. Each study has a specific purpose when looking at the tissues or bones related to the injury.

An X-Ray isn’t as detailed as an MRI. X-Rays are great for diagnosing broken bones or soft tissue damage after a sports injury. However, they don’t show the tiny intricate structures that could also be damaged.

An MRI is a more specific study used after your initial diagnosis. Because this study shows many more structures than an X-Ray, it’s often used to further evaluate the damage to the tissues, nerves, or cartilage in the area of injury.

Both X-Rays and MRIs are extremely helpful in evaluating your injury and coming up with a diagnosis. This helps your team form a proper treatment plan to get you back into the game as quickly as possible.

If you’re in need of specialized imaging studies for a sports injury, don’t hesitate to call the office in Santa Clarita, California, today, or book an appointment on the website.