Basketball is a great sport for all ages and skill levels. It’s not just for kids either! We’ve written this guide to help you know what injuries to look out for so that you can keep yourself safe on the court.
Ankle sprains
Ankle sprains are more common in basketball than other sports, according to the American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine. This is because players need to pivot their feet quickly on a hard court and change direction quickly, which can lead to injury when they twist their ankles.
Ankle sprains are caused by twisting your foot—in other words, turning it inward or outward while jumping or landing from a jump shot or free throw attempt (which means landing on the same leg as you jumped off). The most common symptom of an ankle sprain is pain that radiate down through your lower leg toward your toes; you might also feel swelling at this point. If left untreated, this injury could cause significant pain over time if not treated properly.
Shoulder dislocations
A shoulder dislocation is the most serious of all basketball injuries. It occurs when one or more of your shoulder joints are pulled out of their normal locations and cause damage to them. The most common types of dislocations include:
Anterior subluxation – This type occurs when a small part of your arm (the humerus) breaks free from its socket (condyloid process).
Posterior subluxation – This type happens when you have an incomplete separation between two bones in your upper arm, which means that the ball-handling muscles attach to those bones instead of those that connect with each other at the base (epicondyle). The result is that it’s difficult for you to use them properly because there isn’t enough room left over between them once they’ve been separated by this injury
Concussoins and other traumatic brain injuries
Concussions are a type of traumatic brain injury. A concussion can happen in any sport, but they’re most common in contact sports like basketball and football because they involve lots of collisions between players. Athletes can easily damage their brains if they fall or collide with each other during the competition.
The symptoms of a concussion include headache, nausea/vomiting (which can be more severe if you’ve been drinking alcohol) , dizziness or lightheadedness.
Elbow fracture
An elbow fracture is a break in the bone that connects the arm to your shoulder. It happens when there’s too much force applied to this area, like when someone lands on their face or gets hit with a ball.
If you have an elbow fracture and don’t treat it properly, it could lead to serious problems down the road. You’ll probably feel pain in your arm and loss of movement at first because healing takes time—but if you keep playing through this injury without treatment, you’ll likely get worse before getting better!
Learn about steps you can take to prevent these common injuries.
Warm up before playing and stretch after the game, especially if you play a lot of games in a row or at night. This helps keep your muscles loose and prevents injury as well as soreness from overuse/injury. Wearing compressa knee sleeves can help prevent ankle sprains, which are one of the most common sports injuries among basketball players.
Basketball is a popular sport, but it can also be a dangerous one. With the right precautions, you can protect yourself from common basketball injuries and keep playing at your highest level of performance.
