Sports Then and Now

Injuries are an inherent risk of sports. Players can take all of the precautions possible; eat well, take care of their bodies, and stretch sufficiently before all activity, but when it comes game time, some injuries you just can’t prevent. Here are six common injuries that can sideline a player for the whole season:

ACL Tear

The knee is arguably the human body part most susceptible to injury in sport, and every year, ACL tears bench players for the rest of the season. Knee injuries are by far the most common injury in the NFL, accounting for almost 20 percent of all total injuries. For ACL tears, surgery and a good deal of physical therapy is almost always required before a player can return to the field, and many times the athlete is never able to reach the same levels as before their injury. Sometimes, however, ACL tears can actually be treated without surgery.

High Ankle Sprain

While knee injuries are usually fairly severe, not all ankle injuries are season-ending. The high ankle sprain can be, however, and is one of the most common season-ending injuries behind knee injuries.

Torn UCL Muscle

In baseball, the far and away most common injury is a torn UCL muscle in the throwing elbow. This injury is becoming more prevalent amongst pitchers, who are putting more stress on their elbow, throwing hard than ever before. To repair the torn UCL muscle, players must undergo “Tommy John” surgery, with rehab lasting at least a calendar year. The upside to this surgery is that many players come back throwing harder than they used to. Read the rest of this entry →

Professional athletes are constantly striving for physical perfection and athletic greatness, and that very often means injuring themselves in the pursuit of those goals. Some injuries and maladies are more common than others among professional athletes, regardless of the sport or activity that they participate in. Here are five of the most common professional sports injuries that befall athletes:

Pulled Muscles

Overexertion and rapid acceleration often lead to pulled muscles, which are the bane of any athlete’s existence. The severity of pulled muscle injuries varies widely: athletes who pull their biceps muscle attempting to throw or lift a heavy weight may only be sidelined for a couple of days whereas athletes who pull their hamstrings running may miss several months. The spectra of a pulled muscle can be mostly avoided with proper stretching and warming up, but they can never be completely eradicated from the sports world.

MCL/ACL Tear or Strain

The knee is an amazing joint, but it is also very complex and fragile and therefore susceptible to painful injury. The MCL and ACL ligaments are frequently damaged by quick stops and starts or rapid attempted changes in direction. These injuries can be devastating to an athletic career, and injured parties require surgery and several months of intense physical therapy to fully recover. Read the rest of this entry →

Head injuries are a common occurrence in many sports and can range from mild concussions, to severe or even traumatic brain injuries. All athletes, regardless of the sport, risk injuries, but some sports have much higher rates than others. Here is a look at some of the most dangerous sports out there.

Boxing
Boxing has one of the highest rates of brain injury of any sport. On average, being hit by a professional boxer is like being hit with a bowling ball moving at 20 miles per hour. About 90 percent of boxers, both professional and amateur, have received some type of head injury from the sport, and one in five have received a traumatic brain injury.

Football
Tens of thousands of people visit the emergency room every year with head injuries caused by football. This sport has the highest concussion rate for high school sports, and at least one third of NFL players have received traumatic brain injuries from playing. Read the rest of this entry →

It starts off with excitement and anticipation as you make your way to the big game, but there are worse things that can happen there than your favorite team losing.

Sports events injuries don’t just happen on the field of play, as Manhattan personal injury and accident lawyer injuryclaimnyclaw.com will confirm, as people can and do get hurt in a variety of ways while watching the game.

Who’s fault is it?

Anything can happen. A puck hits you on the head or maybe you slip and fall while grabbing a hot dog, the question is, whose fault is it that you have been injured

The important phrase to bear in mind is assumed risk. What this means in basic terms is that when you attend a sporting event as a spectator, you do so on the understanding that a flying object like a ball or a puck might enter the seating area, so it is your responsibility to takes steps to avoid them when that happens.

You will often find a clear definition of your assumed responsibilities printed on the back of your ticket, in the form of a carefully worded statement warning the ticketholder of the potential risks they should accept when entering the stadium.

Where things get more complicated is if you sustain an injury that is not inherently associated with the nature of the game.

Examples of potential negligence

If parts of the stadium are in a poor state of repair and a crumbling or worn walkway causes you to suffer a fall, that is an example where it may be possible to prove that the stadium owner was negligent and could be found guilty of not properly maintaining the grounds.

Another example which perhaps might surprise you, concerns a patron getting intoxicated.

If a patron is served alcohol where it is clear that they are already intoxicated and should be refused a drink, the bar or restaurant concession could potentially be liable for over-serving intoxicated patrons, if they subsequently get injured as a result of being drunk and injuring themselves in some way, like falling. Read the rest of this entry →