Category: Other Sports Injuries

Kim Clijsters is out of the 2011 French Open and it was a shocking upset. She lost in three sets to Aranxta Rus of The Netherlands with the scores of 3-6, 7-5, 6-1.

Amazing.

The really amazing thing about the match is that Clijsters had 65 unforced errors. In tennis, an unforced error is a shot that the player simply messes up. This can be hitting it into the net, hitting it long or other things. The determining factor in an unforced error is that your opponent has done nothing to cause you to mishit or misplay a ball.  At most levels of tennis, unforced errors can be the difference between winning and losing since it forces your opponent to make winning shots against you.

Grady Sizemore is a baseball player I like. He’s hard nosed, blue collar ethic and a great teammate. He is perpetually hurt, though. This time it is a lingering knee issue that had tossed him onto the disabled list before.

Head trainer Lonnie Soloff says:

Grady has progressed the last five days, but not enough for us or for him to feel comfortable about his ability to play the outfield. ‘We feel the most prudent course of action at this point is to place him on the 15-day DL to give him the time he needs to heal. As of yesterday, he was hitting without symptoms, and he was running at about 75-80 percent with only mild symptoms.

Brock Lesnar is a man among men when it comes to UFC fighting. He has pretty much done everything you can do in wrestling and even tried out for football. The one thing that can kick his rear? Diverticulitis.

Yep, try saying it four times fast. The man among men is humbled by a gastrointestinal problem.

You might not have heard of diverticulitis before, but I can assure you it is more common that you think. Many people who have it never suffer sever symptoms. They are lucky. Unlike Brock, they can continue to train and play.

News broke that Tiger Woods withdrew from The Players Championship. When I read the details I knew at that point that Tiger Woods would never win another major championship. Tiger is just like a bull rider that has been thrown once too many times, but in the case of Tiger, the bull is running him over in the car.

Now, why would I make such an outlandish prediction?

His injury history. As I detailed earlier, Tiger has experienced a great deal of injuries in his career. Injuries that might have forced other players out of the game. Since 2007 Tiger’s injuries have become more frequent and lingered longer than expected.

Wow. The report came out this weekend that there will be no Americans in either the men’s or women’s top ten rankings from the WTA. None. Zero. Zilch. Nada.

How long has it been since this occurred? Well, never. The rankings were first published for men in 1973 and the women in 1975.

The news report has a couple of quotes from players as to why this is happening. Bethanie Mattek-Sands said:

In other countries there’s a little more of that grit to get out of where they’re coming from. Take some of the Russians, they’re trying to get out of there—make some money, and get out of there. The U.S. have it too good. It will take some people getting out of their comfort zone.

Wrestling is a very tough sport. You have to have high endurance, great strength and lightning speed.

The NCAA tracked the number and types of injuries in men’s wrestling. They broke out the results into practice and match injuries. I was surprised by the results and I think you might be as well.

Wrestling Practice Injuries

Skin infection – This makes a great deal of sense given the fact that players are constantly on the mats sweating and rubbing up against each other. Still it is surprising it is tracked as an injury. MRSA and staph infections need to be a concern for anyone in an environment like this.

Field Hockey isn’t a sport you think of when you talk about injuries. Let me tell you, though, you watch women’s field hockey and you quickly find out why there can be injuries. The women sprint around the field, whack a hard ball and move in and out of people with their heads down.

When my daughter started playing field hockey, I didn’t think much of the injury possibilities, but after the first game I knew it was an injury magnet.

The NCAA does a great job of tracking injuries through a surveillance system they have adopted. Each team is responsible for reporting injuries including:

• Type of Injury
• Practice of Game Injury
• When the Injury Occurred

The Associated Press put together a list of his injuries throughout his playing career. I thought it would be fun to:

1) See if they were right.

2) See if I could find articles on all of them.

It turns out they were right for the most part. I couldn’t find documentation on one of the injuries.

1. April 2011 – Sprain of medial collateral ligaments in left knee and minor strain of his left achilles.

   “I personally contacted tournament officials and expressed my regret in not being able to play. This is an outstanding event, but I must follow doctors’ orders to get better.

2. December 2010 – Right ankle necessitates cortisone shot.

Tadej Valjavec is a world class cyclist from Slovenia and he’s been suspended for two years by the Union Cycliste Internationale.

Today, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled against the Olympic Committee of Slovenia and suspended Tadej for two years based on prior anomalies with testing.

The Court said:

The CAS found that anti-doping tests performed in April and August 2009 revealed abnormalities in the context of the athlete’s biological passport to a degree which was entirely consistent with blood manipulation. The CAS has therefore confirmed the reliability of the indirect method of detection based on the blood profile of athletes and already established in previous CAS decisions concerning the Italian cyclists Pietro Caucchioli and Franco Pellizotti.

Animal bites aren’t something you consider often when talking about sports injuries. Still, there are a number of times you need to concern yourself.

A few of the times where being bitten by an animal can happen when playing sports:

1) Jogging: Depending on where and when you jog, there is a chance you’ll come across a dog on a walk. Dog bites occur 4.7 million times a year, which is often enough to have a Dog Bite Prevention Week.

2) Caving or hiking: If you are an adventurous type, you might cave or hike on a regular basis. Welcome to bat territory. Bats carry rabbis and if the attack is unprovoked there is a greater chance you’ll be exposed.