Often referred to as "America's first sport," with its roots in Native American cultures, lacrosse is America's oldest and currently fastest growing team sport. Played by both girls and boys of all ages, it is a fast paced, free flowing game. The sport combines elements of basketball, soccer, and hockey, and requires coordination, agility, quick change of direction and contact make for a unique set of injury mechanisms and types.

Common Lacrosse Injuries
As players prepare for their season, it's important to set both position and season goals with their coaches before they train. Because men's and women's rules differ significantly and because injuries and demands may differ by position, it's important for players to participate in an individualized training program that can lessen the risk of common injuries in lacrosse and boost conditioning.

Lacrosse is one of the fastest-growing sports in the United States, and head injuries a common risk associated with the sport.

Headaches are one of the most common medical complaints; most people experience them at some point in their life. They can affect anyone regardless of age, race, and gender. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that almost half of all adults worldwide will experience a headache in any given year.

A headache can be a sign of stress or emotional distress, or it can result from a medical disorder, such as migraine or high blood pressure, anxiety, or depression. It can lead to other problems. People with chronic migraine headaches, for example, may find it hard to attend work or school regularly.

Causes
A headache can occur in any part of the head, on both sides of the head, or in just one location.
There are different ways to define headaches. The International Headache Society (IHS) categorize headaches as primary, when they are not caused by another condition, or secondary, when there is a further underlying cause.

In the medical field, stenosis means the abnormal narrowing of a body channel. When combined with the word spinal, it defines a narrowing of the bone channel occupied by the spinal nerves or the spinal cord.

Some people are born with a congenital form, but most develop spinal stenosis as part of the degenerative cascade. A few do not feel any effects of the narrowing, but as part of the aging process, most people will eventually notice radiating pain, weakness, and/or numbness secondary to the compression of the nerves or spinal cord.

While the narrowing may occur at different parts of the spine, the symptoms of nerve compression are often similar. That is why specialists often will perform testing to determine the cause and location of the narrowing.

A pinched nerve occurs when too much pressure is applied to a nerve by surrounding tissues, such as bones, cartilage, muscles or tendons. This pressure disrupts the nerve's function, causing pain, tingling, numbness or weakness.

A pinched nerve can occur at a number of sites in your body. A herniated disk in your lower spine, for example, may put pressure on a nerve root, causing pain that radiates down the back of your leg. Likewise, a pinched nerve in your wrist can lead to pain and numbness in your hand and fingers (carpal tunnel syndrome).

With rest and other conservative treatments, most people recover from a pinched nerve within a few days or weeks. Sometimes, surgery is needed to relieve pain from a pinched nerve.

What is the labrum?
The hip is a ball and socket joint. The ball is made up of the top end of the thigh bone or femur. The socket is made up of the pelvis bone and is called the acetabulum. The labrum is a fibrocartilaginous structure on the rim of the socket which attaches in continuity with the articular cartilage of the socket.

What is the function of the labrum?
The labrum contributes to hip stability by deepening the socket and provides a seal of the hip joint.

Compression    =     the application of strong pressure
Fracture           =     a break in a bone

A compression fracture occurs when part of a vertebra, or bone in the spine, collapses.

The bones of the spine have two main section. The vertebral arch is a ring-shaped section that forms the roof of the spinal canal and protects the spinal cord. You can feel the spinous process, a projection from this arch, when you press on the skin in the middle of your back. The vertebral body is the cylindrical shaped portion of the vertebral one that lies in front and provides the majority of structural support. In a compression fracture, the vertebral body collapses.

The most common type of compression fracture is a wedge fracture, in which the front of the vertebral body collapses but the back does not, meaning that the bone assumes a wedge shape.

SHOULDER BURSITIS?
A bursa is a tiny fluid-filled sac that functions as a gliding surface to reduce friction between tissues of the body. The plural of bursa is bursae. There are 160 bursae in the body. The major bursae are located adjacent to the tendons near the large joints, such as the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.

Bursitis is inflammation of a bursa. Injury or inflammation of a bursa around the shoulder joint causes shoulder bursitis.

A clavicle fracture is a break in the collarbone, one of the main bones in the shoulder. This type of fracture is fairly common accounting for about 5 percent of all adult fractures. Most clavicle fractures occur when a fall onto the shoulder or an outstretched arm puts enough pressure on the bone that it snaps or breaks. A broken collarbone can be very painful and can make it hard to move your arm.

Most clavicle fractures can be treated by wearing a sling to keep the arm and shoulder from moving while the bone heals. With some clavicle fractures, however, the pieces of bone move far out of place when the injury occurs. For these more complicated fractures, surgery may be needed to realign the collarbone.

ANATOMY
The clavicle is located between the ribcage (sternum) and the shoulder blade (scapula). It is the bone that connects the arm to the body. The clavicle lies above several important nerves and blood vessels. However, these vital structures are rarely injured when a fracture occurs.

The clavicle is part of your shoulder and connects your arm to your ribcage.
Reproduced and adapted from JF Sarwak, ed: Essentials of Musculoskeletal Care, ed. 4. Rosemont, IL, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, 2010.

WHAT IS WHIPLASH?
Whiplash is a relatively common injury that occurs to a person's neck following a sudden acceleration-deceleration force that causes unrestrained, rapid forward and backward movement of the head and neck, most commonly from motor vehicle accidents. The term "whiplash" was first used in 1928. The term "railway spine" was used to describe a similar condition that was common in persons involved in train accidents prior to 1928. The term "whiplash injury" describes damage to both the bone structures and soft tissues, while "whiplash associated disorders" describes a more severe and chronic condition.

Fortunately, whiplash is typically not a life threatening injury, but it can lead to a prolonged period of partial disability. There are significant economic expenses related to whiplash that can reach 30 billion dollars a year in the United States, including:
•    medical care,
•    disability,
•    sick leave,
•    lost productivity, and
•    litigation.
 

There are three different types of arthritis that can occur in your knees. The most common type is osteoarthritis (OA), a progressive condition that slowly wears away joint cartilage. OA is most likely to occur after middle age.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory condition that can strike at any age.
Post-traumatic arthritis develops following an injury to the knee. It can occur years after a torn meniscus, ligament injury, or knee fracture.

It’s possible to have more than one type of arthritis at a time. See your doctor for a diagnosis and to discuss a successful treatment plan for the specific type or types of arthritis you have.

Gradual increase in pain
Arthritis pain can begin suddenly, but it’s more likely to develop slowly. At first, you may notice pain in the morning or after you’ve been inactive for a while. Your knees may hurt when you climb stairs, stand up from a sitting position, or kneel. It may hurt just to go for a walk.

You may also feel pain when you’re simply sitting down. Some people with arthritis say that damp weather or other changes in weather can bring on pain. Knee pain that wakes you up from sleep can be a symptom of OA.

Trigger finger is a painful condition that causes your fingers or thumb to catch or lock when you bend them. It can affect any finger, or more than one. When it affects your thumb, it’s called trigger thumb.

CAUSES
Most of the time, it comes from a repeated movement or forceful use of your finger or thumb. It can also happen when tendons -- tough bands of tissue that connect muscles and bones in your finger or thumb -- get inflamed. Together, they and the muscles in your hands and arms bend and straighten your fingers and thumbs.

A tendon usually glides easily through the tissue that covers it (called a sheath) thanks to the synovium, a lubricating membrane that surrounds joints. Sometimes a tendon gets inflamed and swollen. Prolonged irritation of the tendon sheath can lead to scarring and thickening that affect the tendon's motion. When this happens, bending your finger or thumb pulls the inflamed tendon through a narrowed sheath and makes it snap or pop.

What is dislocation of the shoulder? What causes a shoulder dislocation?

The shoulder joint is the most mobile joint in the body and allows the arm to move in many directions. This ability to move makes the joint inherently unstable and also makes the shoulder the most often dislocated joint in the body. In the shoulder joint, the head of the humerus (upper arm bone) sits in the glenoid fossa, an extension of the scapula, or shoulder blade. Because the glenoid fossa (fossa = shallow depression) is so shallow, other structures within and surrounding the shoulder joint are needed to maintain its stability. Within the joint, the labrum (a fibrous ring of cartilage) extends from the glenoid fossa and provides a deeper receptacle for the humeral head. The capsule tissue that surrounds the joint also helps maintain stability. The rotator cuff muscles and the tendons that move the shoulder provide a significant amount of protection and stability for the shoulder joint.

Dislocations of the shoulder occur when the head of the humerus is forcibly removed from its socket in the glenoid fossa. It's possible to dislocate the shoulder in many different directions, and a dislocated shoulder is described by the location where the humeral head ends up after it has been dislocated. Ninety-five percent or more of shoulder dislocations are anterior dislocations, meaning that the humeral head has been moved to a position in front of the joint. Posterior dislocations are those in which the humeral head has moved backward toward the shoulder blade. Other rare types of dislocations include luxatio erecta, an inferior dislocation below the joint, and intrathoracic, in which the humeral head gets stuck between the ribs.

 
Dislocations in younger people tend to arise from trauma and are often associated with sports (football, basketball, and volleyball) or falls. Older patients are prone to dislocations because of gradual weakening of the ligaments and cartilage that supports the shoulder. Even in these cases, however, there still needs to be some force applied to the shoulder joint to make it dislocate.

Anterior dislocations often occur when the shoulder is in a vulnerable position. A common example is when the arm is held over the head with the elbow bent, and a force is applied that pushes the elbow backward and levers the humeral head out of the glenoid fossa. This scenario can occur with throwing a ball or hitting a volleyball. Anterior dislocations also occur during falls on an outstretched hand. An anterior dislocation involves external rotation of the shoulder; that is, the shoulder rotates away from the body.