Going to the gym, playing soccer with friends, or even just jogging are great ways to stay active. Every one of these activities carries a certain level of risk, and it’s completely normal to be hurt during the heat of the play. The problem that brings us together today is what happens after a diagnosis, specifically a wrong one. If you’ve felt a persistent ache after a game or workout (even after receiving a diagnosis and treatment that didn’t fully resolve the problem), you may have been misdiagnosed. Catching this early makes treatment easier, while ignoring it can be dangerous. Today, we want to share with you a list of the most misdiagnosed sports injuries and how to detect if you have one.
Our team of board-certified doctors provides conservative, non-surgical, and regenerative treatments to heal sports injuries and relieve pain. Our offices are located in Westfield and West Orange, New Jersey, and serve all of Union county, Morris county, Middlesex county, and Somerset county including the surrounding towns of Cranford, Garwood, Clark, Scotch Plains, Mountainside, Springfield, Summit, Chatham, Millburn, Short Hills, Maplewood, Watchung, Berkeley Heights, Livingston, Union, Edison, Woodbridge, and Elizabeth. If you think you might need treatment for your sport injuries, don’t hesitate to call Genesis Orthopaedic and Spine or request an appointment online today.
For appointments, call us or book online at any of our convenient locations in Middletown, Morristown, Ridgewood, Westfield, and West Orange.
The Four Sports Injuries That Can Fool You
High Ankle Sprains
You know how a regular twisted ankle hurts on the sides and gets better in a few weeks? Well, this one hurts higher up, almost where your leg meets your ankle. It’s like the difference between spraining your wrist versus spraining something in your forearm. These sports injuries are actually between the two bones in your lower leg that need to stay connected. When you twist your foot, it feels like something’s grinding or catching inside.
Regular ankle sprains happen when you step wrong and your foot rolls inward or outward. But high ankle sprains occur when your foot gets planted and then your body twists. For instance, consider a football player whose cleat gets stuck in the turf while changing direction, or a basketball player who lands on someone’s foot and their leg rotates while their foot stays put. The twisting motion forces those two leg bones apart, even though they’re supposed to stay together.
Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
Imagine you have important cables (nerves and blood vessels) running from your neck down to your fingers. Now picture those cables getting pinched in a tight tunnel between your collarbone and a rib. When they get squeezed, you feel it as shoulder pain, but the real problem is that pinched “tunnel.” That’s why your fingers go numb and the pain shoots down your whole arm, not just your shoulder.
Sports like swimming, tennis, baseball, and volleyball require you to raise your arms overhead repeatedly. Over time, certain shoulder and neck muscles become excessively tight, while others weaken, leading to sports injuries. This muscle imbalance gradually narrows the space between your collarbone and rib, where the nerves pass through. Eventually, there’s not enough room for everything to fit comfortably.
Osgood-Schlatter Disease
You know that big muscle on the front of your thigh? It connects to your kneecap and then continues as a thick cord down to your shinbone. In growing teenagers, that connection point on the shinbone isn’t fully hardened yet. When you run and jump a lot, that cord keeps yanking on the soft spot, causing swelling and pain. Eventually, it even creates a permanent bump you can see and feel.
These sports injuries happen because teenagers’ bones grow faster than their muscles and tendons. So you have this rapidly growing shinbone, but the tendon connecting to it stays the same length, creating more tension. Add in lots of running and jumping sports during this growth phase, and that attachment point gets constantly yanked on. It’s like having a rope tied to something that keeps getting farther away; eventually, the rope starts pulling apart where it’s attached.
Read more: Revolutionizing Pain Relief: Exploring the TenJet® Procedure at Genesis Orthopaedic and Spine
Stress Fractures
Think of bending a paperclip back and forth. At first, nothing happens, but keep doing it, and tiny cracks start forming until it eventually breaks completely. That’s what happens to your bones with repetitive activity. The early cracks feel like a deep muscle ache, but unlike sore muscles that feel better as you warm up, this pain gets worse the more you do.
Your bones actually get stronger by developing tiny micro-cracks that heal back stronger; that’s normal. But when you increase training intensity or volume too quickly, you create more damage than your body can repair.
When Your Sports Injuries Need Attention
The most challenging aspect of misdiagnosed injuries is that they often defy textbook guidelines. Your hamstring strain might be nerve irritation from your back. Your tennis elbow could be a neck problem. Your chronic calf tightness might be a compensation for an old ankle injury.
If you suspect that you have been misdiagnosed, Call or book an appointment online at Genesis Orthopaedic and Spine to schedule a visit for sports injuries treatment in New Jersey today.
