any injury related to the practice of a sport, often resulting from the overuse and stretching of muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
In hospital the possible need for urgent action is monitored by use of the GLASGOW COMA SCALE.
People suffering the results of such injuries and their relatives can obtain help and advice from Headway – the brain injury association.... head injury
– an early graded return to activity gives the best long-term results, but doing too much too soon runs the risk of exacerbating the original injury.
Chronic (overuse) injuries affecting the bones (see BONE), tendons (see TENDON) or BURSAE of the JOINTS are common in many sports. Examples include chronic INFLAMMATION of the common extensor tendon where it
attaches to the later EPICONDYLE of the humerus – common in throwers and racquet sportspeople – and stress fractures of the TIBIA or METATARSAL BONES of the foot in runners. After an initial period of rest, management often involves coaching that enables the athlete to perform the repetitive movement in a less injury-susceptible manner.
Exercise physiology is the science of measuring athletic performance and physical ?tness for exercise. This knowledge is applied to devising and supervising training regimens based on scienti?c principles. Physical ?tness depends upon the rate at which the body can deliver oxygen to the muscles, known as the VO2max, which is technically di?cult to measure. The PULSE rate during and after a bout of exercise serves as a good proxy of this measurement.
Regulation of sport Sports medicine’s role is to minimise hazards for participants by, for example, framing rule-changes which forbid collapsing the scrum, which has reduced the risk of neck injury in rugby; and in the detection of the use of drugs taken to enhance athletic performance. Such attempts to gain an edge in competition undermine the sporting ideal and are banned by leading sports regulatory bodies. The Olympic Movement Anti-Doping Code lists prohibited substances and methods that could be used to enhance performance. These include some prohibited in certain circumstances as well as those completely banned. The latter include:
stimulants such as AMPHETAMINES, bromantan, ca?eine, carphedon, COCAINE, EPHEDRINE and certain beta-2 agonists.
NARCOTICS such as DIAMORPHINE (heroin), MORPHINE, METHADONE HYDROCHLORIDE and PETHIDINE HYDROCHLORIDE.
ANABOLIC STEROIDS such as methandione, NANDROLONE, stanazol, TESTOSTERONE, clenbuterol, androstenedone and certain beta-2 agonists.
peptide HORMONES, mimetics and analogues such as GROWTH HORMONE, CORTICOTROPHIN, CHORIONIC GONADOTROPHIC HORMONE, pituitary and synthetic GONADOTROPHINS, ERYTHROPOIETIN and INSULIN. (The list produced above is not comprehen
sive: full details are available from the governing bodies of relevant sports.) Among banned methods are blood doping (pre-competition administration of an athlete’s own previously provided and stored blood), administration of arti?cial oxygen carriers or plasma expanders. Also forbidden is any pharmacological, chemical or physical manipulation to affect the results of authorised testing.
Drug use can be detected by analysis of the URINE, but testing only at the time of competition is unlikely to detect drug use designed to enhance early-season training; hence random testing of competitive athletes is also used.
The increasing professionalism and competitiveness (among amateurs and juveniles as well as professionals) in sports sometimes results in pressures on participants to get ?t quickly after injury or illness. This can lead to
players returning to their activity before they are properly ?t – sometimes by using physical or pharmaceutical aids. This practice can adversely affect their long-term physical capabilities and perhaps their general health.... sports medicine
Urethritis is in?ammation of the urethra from infection.
Causes The sexually transmitted disease GONORRHOEA affects the urethra, mainly in men, and causes severe in?ammation and urethritis. Non-speci?c urethritis (NSU) is an in?ammation of the urethra caused by one of many di?erent micro-organisms including BACTERIA, YEAST and CHLAMYDIA.
Symptoms The classic signs and symptoms are a urethral discharge associated with urethral pain, particularly on micturition (passing urine), and DYSURIA.
Treatment This involves taking urethral swabs, culturing the causative organism and treating it with the appropriate antibiotic. The complications of urethritis include stricture formation.
Stricture This is an abrupt narrowing of the urethra at one or more places. Strictures can be a result of trauma or infection or a congenital abnormality from birth. Rarely, tumours can cause strictures.
Symptoms The usual presenting complaint is one of a slow urinary stream. Other symptoms include hesitancy of micturition, variable stream and terminal dribbling. Measurement of the urine ?ow rate may help in the diagnosis, but often strictures are detected during cystoscopy (see CYSTOSCOPE).
Treatment The traditional treatment was the periodic dilation of the strictures with ‘sounds’
– solid metal rods passed into the urethra. However, a more permanent solution is achieved by cutting the stricture with an endoscopic knife (optical urethrotomy). For more complicated long or multiple strictures, an open operation (urethroplasty) is required.... urethra, diseases of and injury to
It may arise from many causes, including physical influences (for example, force, heat, cold, electricity, vibration, and radiation), chemical causes (for example, poisons), bites, or oxygen deprivation.... injury
More unusual forms of self-harm, such as mutilating the genitals, are usually due to psychosis. Self-destructive biting is a feature of Lesch–Nyhan syndrome, a rare metabolic disorder.... self-injury
Typical sports injuries include fractures, head injury (including concussion), muscle strain or compartment syndrome, ligament sprain, tendinitis or tendon rupture, and joint dislocation or subluxation.
Some so-called sports injuries, such as tennis elbow, are in fact a type of overuse injury.... sports injuries
In frostbite, an area of skin and flesh becomes frozen, hard, and white as a result of exposure to very cold, dry air.
Sometimes there is restriction of the blood supply to the affected area.
Another type of cold injury, immersion foot, occurs when the legs and feet are kept cold and damp for hours or days.
The main risk of both conditions is that blood flow will be slowed so much that the tissues will die, leading to gangrene.
Less serious forms of cold injury include chilblains and chapped skin.... cold injury
All except the mildest electric shocks may result in unconsciousness. Alternating current (AC) is more dangerous than direct current (DC) because it causes sustained muscle contractions, which may prevent the victim from letting go of the source of the current. A current as small as 0.1 of an amp passing through the heart can cause a fatal arrhythmia. The same current passing through the brainstem may cause the heart to stop beating and breathing to cease. Larger currents, generated by high voltages, may cause charring of tissues, especially where the current enters and exits the body. ... electrical injury
Pneumoconiosis is fibrosis of the lung due to inhalation of industrial dusts, such as coal. Asbestosis is associated with asbestos in industry. Allergic alveolitis is caused by organic dusts (see farmer’s lung).
Industrial chemicals can damage the lungs if inhaled, or other major organs if they enter the bloodstream via the lungs or skin. Examples include fumes of cadmium, beryllium, lead, and benzene. Carbon tetrachloride and vinyl chloride are causes of liver disease. Many of these compounds can cause kidney damage. Work-related skin disorders include contact dermatitis and squamous cell carcinoma. Rare infectious diseases that are more common in certain jobs include brucellosis and Q fever (from livestock), psittacosis (from birds), and leptospirosis (from sewage). People who work with blood or blood products are at increased risk of viral hepatitis (see hepatitis, viral) and AIDS, as are healthcare professionals. The nuclear industry and some healthcare professions use measures to reduce the danger from radiation hazards. Other occupational disorders include writer’s cramp, carpal tunnel syndrome, singer’s nodes, Raynaud’s phenomenon, deafness, and cataracts.... occupational disease and injury
Examples include epicondylitis: painful inflammation of one of the bony prominences at the elbow, caused by the pull of the attached forearm muscles during strenuous activities (see golfer’s elbow; tennis elbow).
Overuse injuries of the fingers, thumb, and wrist joints may affect assembly-line and keyboard workers, and musicians; injuries of the neck may affect violinists.
Rest relieves the symptoms.
A change in the technique used during the activity may prevent recurrence.... overuse injury
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