Basketball Injuries

March Madness is one of my favorite times of the year. In my family, we all fill out brackets, both for the men’s and women’s tournaments. All these young athletes competing at the highest level of their college careers inspire me and my daughters. 

I enjoyed watching basketball games at my daughters’ school a few weeks ago. Both boys and girls played very well and won. Congrats! The sports medicine physician in me can’t help but watch for injuries, even as these young children play.

Injury rates are similar in youth boys and girls basketball. The most common injured body part is ankles in girls and knees in boys. Overuse injuries are twice as common in the knee and acute injuries three times more common in the ankle. Girls are less likely to have knee overuse injuries.

 Achilles tendon injury in women playing basketball is particularly troubling. Via a study by Shift Movement Sciences, Achilles’ injury risk in women’s NCAA basketball is:

·  10x higher than all other college sports

·  13x higher than men’s basketball

·  16x higher than women’s track

·  60x higher than women’s soccer.

 Injuries are not only bad for the players, but they also leave their teams in a lurch.

 The reigning National NCAA Men’s Basketball team, the Baylor Bears have been plagued by injuries in recent weeks. They were the last undefeated team and the number one rank in the country prior to these injuries. They’ve since gone 4-4 in the last eight games, including their most lopsided loss in more than three years.

According to FOX 5 in Las Vegas, “Jeremy Sochan turned his left ankle and James Akinjo then fell hard on his tailbone. Adam Flagler has been bothered by a bruised knee and leading scorer LJ Cryer missed 10th-ranked Baylor's last three games because of an issue with his surgically repaired right foot.”“It’s a shame because we can’t really bring consistency to our game. We have a different lineup every game,” Sochan said.

Florida State University is also currently dealing with a glut of athlete injuries. “This is a rarity,” Coach Leonard Hamilton told the Orlando Sentinel. “This happens to everybody. Every coach, every program, at some point in time during their career, maybe not as many as us. We’ve had more injuries in the last two weeks than we’ve had the last eight years.”

Although FSU had six straight wins at the beginning of January, they’ve experienced four consecutive losses at least in part due to injuries. And they are currently playing with the youngest team they have fielded in at least eight years.

 The development of STOP (Sports Trauma and Overuse Prevention) Sports Injuries was initiated by the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) in early 2007. According to STOP, the most common basketball injuries are:

·  Ankle Sprains—treatment for ankle sprains involves RICE: rest, ice, compression, and elevation. Physicians normally brace the ankle as well. Ankle sprains are the most common basketball injury from youth sports to the NBA.

·  Jammed Fingers—occurs when the ball hits the tip of a finger causing swelling in one joint. The application of ice and “buddy taping” the injured finger to a neighboring finger is how this is treated.

·  Knee Injuries—stop and go and cutting movements can cause injury to the ligaments and menisci of the knee. ACL tears are more serious and can be a season-ending injury.

·  Deep Thigh Bruising—also treated with RICE and a brace.

·  Facial Cuts—players cannot play while actively bleeding. Sometimes all that is needed is a butterfly bandage, other times stitches or even more serious procedures are needed.

·  Foot Fractures— often these are stress fractures which occur from a rapid increase in training or overtraining. Players are benched until the fracture is healed.

Sports Injury Prevention

Sports injuries in general, from youth to professional sports, can be prevented. Follow these measures and listen to your body.

When you KNOW it’s time to see the doctor with these injuries:

You know your body. If your joints are giving out on you or your ankles or knees don’t feel stable, that’s a sign of an injury that might need treatment. You also know what “normal” sounds your body makes. If your body is making “not normal” noises for a couple of days, you may want to consult a doctor.  Swelling of the joints from your fingers to your knees that doesn’t abate after applying RICE to it for a period of time should be looked at.  

 Re-injury is a common reason for missing time on the floor. Make sure you speak to your provider before returning to play.