It was on a Saturday afternoon, when I decided to visit a nearby football pitch to watch a friendly football match. The match involved two groups of young boys, who were playing against each other. Contrary to my expectation, the game was far from the title “friendly match”. The players were rough. The game was generally rough.

This created a mixed reaction in my view towards football. It is then I understood what causes several injuries in a football match.

What is football? Football is a commonly played sport game that involves two teams of players competing against each other. The game involves kicking of a ball, focusing it towards the goal post. Evidently known that football is a rough game, more often than not, a lot of injuries are involved. Football shoulder injury is among the many types of injury that occurs during a football match. Below is a list of football shoulder injuries, along with their symptoms, signs, treatment and diagnosis.

These are football injuries that inflame and irritate the muscles, ligaments and tendons around the shoulder joints. Over work of muscles, over use of tendons and repetitive forced motion or raising the arms, cause these injuries. What are the sign? Inflammation, tightening and immobility of the affected shoulder are the main signs of these injuries. There are few types of tendonitis football shoulder injuries;

⇒ Biceps tendonitis, an injury that involves inflammation of tendons or soft tissues around the bicep muscles. This kind of injury is mostly caused by a repetitive or forced motion of the shoulders and arms.

⇒ Shoulder impingement, a shoulder injury that occurs when shoulder tendons are rubbed against the shoulder bones, causing injuries, irritations or inflammation.

⇒ Rotator cuff tendonitis, that is happen as a result of excessively raising the arms, injuring the shoulder joint, muscles and tendons. How? Excessive raising of the arms triggers the shoulder joint to exert pressure on it’s underneath soft tissues, causing injuries.

Symptoms of tendonitis football shoulder injuries.

– Inflammation and deep pain around the affected shoulder.

– Weakness of the muscles resulting to a click sound when the arm is raised.

– Immobility of the arm extended from the affected shoulder.

Also Read : Shoulder pain from pull ups, How to prevent

Diagnosis

For a specialist to detect tendonitis football shoulder injuries, a thorough checkup is conducted around the affected shoulder. This is to detect where the pain is coming from. The arm extended from the affected shoulder is moved around to test its range of motion. The strength of the shoulder joint is also tested, by checking its ability to hold a slightly heavy item. After the checkup, an x ray and ultrasound is conducted, to detect if there is any default on the bones or sign of tissue tear respectively.

Treatment

a) Physical therapy.

This is where specialists conduct physical exercises on the patient, to help treat, relax, stretch, lengthen, contract and strengthen the affected muscles and tendons.

b) Ultrasonic treatment.

This is a treatment which involves use of ultrasonic sound waves, to remove torn tendons and affected tissues.

c) Compression.

This is a mean of treatment that involves compressing the affected area with a wrap bandage, to treat inflammation and fasten the injury healing process.

d) Surgeries

This treatment involves use of a minor surgery to attach, repair or replace damaged or torn tendons to its rightful place.

These are shoulder injuries that occur when the tip of the upper arm bone slip out from the shoulder joint or socket.

Signs and symptoms.

– Inflammation around the dislocation area, followed by a deep sharp pain.

– Tightening of the area causing immobility of the shoulder or arm.

– Repetitive cases of dislocations.

Diagnosis. Detection of shoulder dislocation involves;

a) Ultrasound treatment.

This is the use of sound waves to show images of the dislocated bone joints.

b) Magnetic resonance imaging.

This is the use if radio waves and magnet to display images of the dislocated joints.

Treatment

Rest is an essential and effective mean of treating shoulder dislocation. It is advised that one should rest and immobilize the affected shoulder, for a quick healing process. Tightly wrapping the affected area with a bandage helps to immobilize the affected shoulder.

Physical therapy is another effective way to treat shoulder dislocation. It involves simple exercises meant to relax the muscles, reduce pain and inflammation, giving room for quick healing.

These are types of shoulder injuries that involve complete separation or fracture of either the upper arm bone, shoulder blade or cellar bone.

Contacts of players of fall down during the playing period, causes these types of football shoulder injuries.

Signs and symptoms of fracture football shoulder injuries.

– Inflammation or appearance of external bump around the area of fracture, followed by a sharp pain.

– Sagging or falling downwards of the shoulder

Diagnosis

To diagnose shoulder fracture, the following techniques are applied.

A) Arthrogram

This is the process of injecting dye on the injured shoulder, followed by use of x ray, to detect any sign of fracture. Dye in this case, is used for clear observation of the fracture.

b) Magnetic resonance imaging

Similar to shoulder dislocation, MRI is also an effective diagnosis to shoulder fracture. It is the use of radio waves and magnet to display an image of the fractured part of the shoulder.

c) Ultra sound

It is the use of sound waves to detect a fracture and display its image.

Treatment

Shoulder dislocation is serious and more advanced to shoulder dislocation. However, their means of treatment are similar.

Physical therapy is an effective treatment, which is the use of exercises that helps to strengthen and maintain the shoulder’s range of motion.

Surgery is another effective treatment to shoulder fracture, where a minor surgery is conducted, followed by use of screw and plates to hold the fractured bones or joints into the right place.

Rest and compression is also an effective and essential treatment, which involves use of a wrap bandage, to relax, compress and fasten the healing process.

Rather than football, other factors such as strained work activities and sports, older age and generic history among other factors, causes shoulder injuries. It is important to take precautions and immediate treatment against these vital football shoulder injuries.[kkstarratings]