title: Common painful sports injuries: assessment and treatment.
abstract: The increasing participation in organized sports has been paralleled by an increasing number of sports injuries. An exact diagnosis of the injury and an understanding of the mechanisms of injury are essential for proper management, relief of pain, and restoration of function. The two mechanisms of injury are single-impact macrotrauma and repetitive microtrauma. Overuse injuries, which result from repetitive microtrauma, are caused by the interaction of a number of risk factors. Determining the etiological factors present in a given injury is essential for proper management and prevention of overuse injuries. The roles of non-narcotic analgesics, muscle relaxants, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in aiding recovery and restoration of function in sports injuries have been extensively studied. NSAIDs, in particular, have been demonstrated in clinical and laboratory studies to speed recovery from overuse sports injury. Their place in acute sports injuries due to single-impact macrotrauma, however, is more controversial.
authors.affiliation: Division of Sports Medicine, Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Micheli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010146:Pain / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D059408:Pain Management