Common Sports Injuries: What They Are, Why They Happen, and How to Recover
Sport is a fantastic way to stay fit, build confidence, and enjoy competition. But repetitive movement, high forces, and occasional accidents mean sports injuries are common. Understanding which injuries occur most often, what causes them, how they present, and how to manage and prevent them helps athletes of all levels return to play safely and sooner. If you have any of the injuries below, or something else, then book an injury assessment and visit me at Amersham & Chiltern rugby club.
Sprains (Ligament Injuries)
What they are: Sprains involve overstretching or tearing of ligaments, the connective tissues that stabilize joints.
Common sites: Ankle (especially inversion sprains), knee (including lateral and medial collateral ligaments), and wrist.
Typical cause: Twisting, landing awkwardly, sudden changes of direction.
Symptoms: Pain, swelling, bruising, reduced joint stability, difficulty bearing weight.
Immediate care: Protect, Elevate, Avoid anti-inflammatories (for at least 72 hours), Compress, Educate (seek advice from an appropriate professional).
Rehabilitation: Range-of-motion and strengthening exercises, proprioception/balance training, gradual return to sport with functional testing.
When to see a clinician: Inability to put weight on the joint, severe swelling, or persistent instability—may need imaging and specialist treatment.
Muscle Strains (Pulled Muscles)
What they are: Overstretching or tearing of muscle fibers or the musculotendinous junction.
Common sites: Hamstrings, calf (gastrocnemius), groin (adductors), quadriceps.
Typical cause: Sudden acceleration/deceleration, overstretching, inadequate warm-up, muscle fatigue.
Symptoms: Sudden sharp pain, local tenderness, swelling, bruising, reduced strength.
Immediate care: Protect, Elevate, Avoid anti-inflammatories (for at least 72 hours), Compress, Educate (seek advice from an appropriate professional).
Rehabilitation: Gradual loading, eccentric strengthening (important for hamstrings), flexibility work, progressive sport-specific drills.
Return to play: Based on pain-free strength and functional capacity rather than timeline alone.
Tendinopathies (Tendon Overuse)
What they are: Degenerative or reactive changes in tendons from repetitive overload—commonly called tendonitis or tendinosis.
Common sites: Achilles (runners), patellar (jumpers), tennis elbow/lateral epicondylopathy, rotator cuff tendinopathy.
Typical cause: Repetitive loading without adequate recovery, poor biomechanics, sudden increase in training load.
Symptoms: Gradual onset of localized pain, stiffness (often worse with initial activity), pain with resisted movement.
Management: Activity modification, eccentric and heavy slow resistance exercises, load management, addressing biomechanics, soft tissue modalities, and in some cases injection therapies.
Prevention: Gradual progression of load, strength training, adequate recovery, and appropriate footwear or equipment.
