- Five of the most painful injuries
an athlete can experience.
(crowd gasps)
You're gonna wanna see this.
Do you watch sports?
How about play them?
What is the absolute worst sports injury
that an athlete can experience?
I see it all the time in the emergency department.
Even the most advanced, strongest competitors
can come in with excruciating pain.
And treating these injuries
sometimes can leave a patient screaming even more.
- Ow!
- Believe me when I say these are not pretty.
If you have experienced any of these injuries,
I want to hear about it.
Your pain scale, the recovery process, all of it.
Leave it in the comments below.
All right, brace yourself.
Let's dive right in.
Number five, painful sports injury,
broken ribs.
It doesn't matter if you are a top pro football player
getting sacked on the field,
or you've just been riding your dirt bike off a jump
and fall the wrong way.
Our first injury can be agonizing
and feel like it's never going to end.
It hurts when you laugh, when you sneeze,
when you sleep, heck, even when you breathe.
I am talking about multiple broken ribs.
You see, the reason we even have ribs to begin with,
is they are the skeletal protection for the lungs
and other organs in the chest cavity
and the upper abdominal cavity.
They also, along with the rib muscles,
expand and contract with normal breathing.
So if you shattered or break a rib,
say diving in the outfield during a baseball game,
every time you take a breath,
the broken pieces could potentially be
jabbing the surrounding tissue
and messing with your breathing,
possibly even puncture your lung.
Unlike say a broken arm,
where you can just cast it and send it home.
Unfortunately, there is no way to fix a broken rib,
other than time.
The injured patient just has to chill
and let it heal on its own for several months,
until the bone literally fuses back together.
If you break your rib and are in a ton of pain,
get to the hospital so we can get some x-rays
and make sure no further damage has occurred.
Typically, the pain management includes
icing the area to relieve the pain,
pain medication,
in some circumstances, you can do a nerve block to the area.
But not wrapping anything too tight on the area.
Also, the patient will wanna make sure
that they take deep breaths
or do breathing treatments
because they could be at higher risk of pneumonia.
Have any of you ever broken a rib?
Let me know in the comments what happened.
And what was it like for you?
Number four, broken tailbone.
Football players, contact sports athletes, you name it.
Some of you out there may have experienced
our next torturous injury,
the broken coccyx.
So what the heck is a coccyx
and why does it take so long to heal?
Commonly referred to as the tail bone.
It's a set of four bones and serves as an attachment point
for a number of pelvic and hip tendons.
Most of us use this part of our body
in so many different functions.
So when you injure that area, let alone fracture it,
you can say goodbye to comfortable sitting.
Sayonara to sleeping on your back,
walking normally, or even going to the bathroom
without excruciating pressure to that area.
And the super painful
and inconvenient road to recovery
can unfortunately last months on end.
So how does one know if they have a coccyx injury?
The injury is largely determined by a physical exam
of the entire of pelvic bone, as well as x-rays.
Oftentimes, in the emergency department,
a rectal exam may even have to be conducted
to see if there's a dislocation or fracture.
To help with pain management,
we often tell patients to ice it,
15 to 20 minutes, four times a day,
and take anti-inflammatory medication.
The real secret helper,
a donut-type pillow to sit on.
This is a cushion that has a hole in the middle
to prevent the tailbone from contacting the flat surface,
which will help alleviate some of the pain.
Number three, dislocated shoulder.
Gymnasts, skateboarders, baseball players,
consider this your warning,
because our next painful injury is a doozy.
The dreaded shoulder dislocation.
A shoulder dislocation happens
when your upper arm pops out of the shoulder socket.
- That's gotta hurt.
- The shoulder is one of the easiest joints to dislocate,
no matter which way you dislocate your shoulder,
you will not be able to move your arm.
And it will be very, very painful.
- Oh.
- Ah!
- Also, the shoulder will suddenly look squared off,
rather than round.
You may even see a lump or a bulge on top of your shoulder.
That's just your normal anatomy
without the shoulder in place.
If this happens to you,
it is super important to get to the emergency department
as soon as you can.
What I'll do if you come in with this injury,
is a closed reduction, or in other words,
a procedure in which I'll attempt
to put the ball of your upper arm, back in the socket,
We try to treat shoulder dislocations immediately
because though complications rarely do occur,
a person could be at risk for limb loss,
if damaged arteries or veins are not treated
within six to eight hours after the injury.
After it sets back in place and we confirm it with an x-ray,
we'll throw you in a shoulder sling,
we'll probably give you some anti-inflammatory medications
and suggest rehabilitation.
Sometimes surgery is required as well, but not usually.
Typically, recovery takes 12 to 16 weeks
to get a full range of motion back.
Number two, painful sports injury,
the anterior cruciate ligament,
AKA, an ACL injury.
- Got it.
ACL tear.
- Located in your knee.
The anterior cruciate ligament, or the ACL,
and other ligaments are all very strong bands of tissue
that connect your thighbone, also known as your femur,
to your shin bone, or your tibia.
Oftentimes in sports,
when a player is doing sudden stops
or changes in direction, movements,
jumping, or even landing weird,
this can put a person at higher risk for an ACL injury.
You can either tear it or sprain it.
A sprain is when the ACL is overstretched, but not torn.
Whereas a tear is when the ligament is actually torn
and that could be either a partial tear or a complete one.
As in fully torn.
♪ I tear my ACL and wouldn't even limp ♪
So how do you know if you've injured your ACL?
When the injury occurs,
often people will hear a pop or a snap,
and then suddenly they will feel unstable,
along with an insurmountable amount of pain.
(Dwight screams)
A patient usually won't be able to bear weight
on that leg either.
If the injury is more severe or even torn completely,
you will definitely be out of commission for a while.
And have to partake in rehab exercises
to help regain your strength and stability.
Also, surgery may be required to fix this.
Most people have a long road to recovery with an ACL tear,
usually taking six to nine months to recover.
Have you or anyone that you know, torn or injured your ACL?
Let me know in the comments
and let me know what the recovery process was like.
Number one, the Achilles tendon rupture.
Basketball lovers, tennis pros,
heck, even just a normal person,
who might be walking down the stairs
a little too aggressively,
listen up.
The Achilles tendon is a strong fibers cord
that connects the muscles
in the back of your calf to your heel bone.
If a person overstretches their Achilles tendon,
it can tear.
Also keep in mind that this injury can be partial or total.
- Totally.
- If it is a total rupture of Achilles tendon,
that means that the tendon has been entirely severed.
This is very serious.
- I'm serious.
- How does one know if they've tore it?
Most commonly, if you're Achilles tendon ruptures,
you may hear that good old handy, dandy pop,
followed by immediately sharp stabbing pain
in your lower leg.
- Ow, ow, ow.
- What's super interesting
is you won't be able to lift your foot up
or even push off
because there's no attachment of your muscles to your foot.
- Interesting.
- If you come to the emergency department,
we'll probably run some imaging tests,
like an ultrasound or an MRI.
And then from there,
decide if you need surgery or just rehab.
If your Achilles tendon is ruptured completely,
it needs to have surgery.
You're looking at four to six months
of a painful recovery process and physical rehab
to get your mobility back from this type of injury.
- I'm back, baby.
- Keep in mind that excessive use
or overuse of that tendon through sports
or non-stretch type of activity
could cause tendonitis in the area,
which could be a contributing factor.
Also be aware that certain medications,
such as antibiotics and steroids,
can weaken your Achilles tendon.
But honestly something as random and simple as just tripping
could actually rupture your Achilles tendon.
(Homer screaming)
My brother even ruptured his Achilles tendon,
stepping over the charging cord to his car in the garage.
Who would've thought?
All right, that's been a quick breakdown
of some of the more painful sports injuries out there.
Certainly, there are a ton more.
(kid grunts)
Let me know into comments,
if you have ever had any gnarly break or injury
that you'd like me to break down further and explain.
Also, let me know what your experience was like.
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Thank you so much for watching and stay healthy, my friends.
(upbeat music)