Term Paper on "Injury (Chest) Athletes to Perform Effectively Need"

Term Paper 4 pages (1634 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Injury (Chest)

Athletes to perform effectively need all their body parts at optimum working condition. It is therefore essential that optimum body mechanics are to be ensured guaranteeing maximum performance whilst conserving energy. However, athletes are susceptible to injuries and accidents often as a result of "poor co-ordination, lack of balance, contact in sports, excessive loading, repetitive jolting or jarring and insufficient preparation." (Athletic & Sports Injury Treatment) Massive recovery from injury is crucial for the athlete.

The ribcage has a supporting role to the upper body; it safeguards the internal organs like heart and lungs and helps in the breathing process. The ribcage is constituted by 24 curved ribs organized in 12 pairs; each pair is connecting to the vertebra in the spine. The first seven pairs are connected at the front of the body directly to the sternum by cartilage regarded as costal cartilage. Such ribs are sometimes known as true ribs. The last tow pairs are not connected to the body at all and are therefore regarded as floating ribs. The ligaments and muscles inclusive of the muscles between the ribs support the ribcage. Such muscles make it possible to expand at the time of breathing in and drop at the time of breathing out. Rib injuries involve bruises, torn cartilage and bone fractures. (Rib injuries)

Rib injuries result when the chest is being directly hit upon. The blunt injuries to ribcage is caused normally by Motor Vehicle Accidents involving slamming of the chest against that of the steering wheel; Crush injuries like heavy object which lands directly on the chest; Sports related injuries to illustrate - a heavy tackle; falling down from a considerably reasonable height; assault-being hit by a baseball bat etc. The symptoms of the injury mostly relies on the type and severity of the injury, however, involves pain at the location of the injury; occurrence of pain with flexes of the ribcage when breathing, coughing, sneezing or laughing, crunching or grinding sounds with the touching or movement of the injury site, Muscle spasms of the ribcage, appearing deformed and difficulties in breathing. (Rib injuries)

Chest injury involves Soft tissue injuries, Rib fracture, Flail Chest etc. The soft tissue of the ribcage incorporates the intercostals muscles and the coastal cartilage. The common injuries in this respect involve Bruising that is the rupturing of blood vessels and leaking of blood into the surrounding tissues. The intercostals muscles facilitate the ribcage to move up and down. Straining of such muscles results in by any activity that associates with extreme or forceful twisting of the body or swinging of the arms. The sports activity such as golf and tennis generally results in such type of injury. Costochondral Separation involves torn loosing of the rib from the costal cartilage and its detachment from sternum.

The second form of chest injury is Rib Fracture. Normally the curvature of the ribs prevents them to common fractures. Its flexibility assists the bones to absorb some amount of strength of a blow. However, bone breaks with stronger exertion of force against it than that it can resist. A rib is prone to break at its out curve since it is the weakest point. Older people are more vulnerable to rib fractures with thin bones and children are less vulnerable due to the flexibility. The common serious injury to the ribs is Flail Chest. It normally results when three or more ribs are fractured in at least two places, front and back. This occurs with exertion of a great deal of blunt force. The primary symptom of flail chest is 'paradoxical movement' that implies the natural movement of the ribcage during breathing is in reverse. To illustrate, the injured location of ribcage sinks in when the person inhales rather than lifting outwards. The reversal is generated by variation to air pressure in the ribcage resulted by the injury. (Rib injuries)

It is not the broken rib cage but its simultaneous injury to the lungs that normally results in complications. Intubating i.e. putting oxygen into the lungs via a tube placed down the trachea will normally generate a pressure in the lungs. As the ribs encompass vital organs like hearts, lungs, the chest trauma may give rise to life-threatening and fatal injuries such as Pneumothorax, Cardiac and associated blood vessel, and Splenic rupture. Pneumothorax is symbolized by collapsed lung as a result of the variations in pressure within the chest. This results in due to a broken rib tearing the lung or a puncture in the chest wall giving rise to breathing problems, chest pain and coughing up blood. This may also result in cardiac and associated blood vessel injury to illustrate, trauma to the blood vessel servicing the heart or a tear in the main artery of the body.

The spleen is found at the left side of the abdomen. It assists in filtration of the blood to remove abnormal cells, and the creation of some immune system cells inclusive of antibodies and lymphocytes. Splenic rupture implies that the outer capsule has split and the spleen bleeds into the abdominal cavity. The diagnosis of the rib injuries involves use of a number of tests inclusive of physical examination and Chest X-ray. The treatment of fractures in ribs is somewhat different than that of the arms and legs. It is not possible to set the broken ribs in a cast. Treatment of rib fractures involves relieving of pain while the injury heals, that can up to six weeks. It may take 12 weeks or more when the rib has torn from the cartilage. The treatment options include rest; providing pain killing drugs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; not having sports activities that worsen the injury; administering icepacks that may assist to reduce inflammation in the early stages. (Rib injuries)

Pulmonary contusion results in when high velocity blunt force is applied to the chest and a person as an illustration is struck with a bat. The blow upsets the microvasculature in the lung parenchyma and blood and several other inflammatory mediators attack the tissue. Normally, the patients are asymptomatic at the first instance. While the pulmonary contusion advances crackles are noted during chest auscultation and particularly dyspnea, tachypnea and tachycardia also. The diagnosis of pulmonary contusion is made with a chest X-ray that reveals opacity in the peripheral lung near the injured chest wall. Such revelations may not be possible up to 12 to 24 hours after the injury. When the contusion is small, supplemental oxygen by nasal cannula is necessary. In case of serious pulmonary contusion intubation and mechanical ventilation is required to facilitate lung time to recover. (Trauma nursing: Blunt chest injuries)

Myocardial contusion or bruising of the heart results due to direct force to the chest to illustrate an unrestrained driver that hits the steering wheel during MVC. The force upsets the vasculature in the heart, giving rise to accumulation of blood and inflammatory mediators in the myocardium. Myocardial contusion in its severe form leads to cardiac dysrhythmia. Blunt chest trauma can also lead to pericardial tamponade which is a life threatening situation. Also known as cardiac tamponade, it exists when blood fills the pericardial sac, whereby it compresses the heart. While the pressure on the heart enhances, the heart does not refill adequately and cardiac output rapidly drops. When the pericardial sac fills quickly, it may need about 100 to 200 ml of blood to result in death. Blunt chest trauma may also cause another type of cardiac injury known as aortic tear. The heart moves towards the front of the chest during rapid deceleration, however, its movement is obstructed to some extend by ligamentum arteriosum that tethers the aorta to the heart. (Trauma nursing: Blunt chest injuries)

About 20% of trauma cases per annum in the United States are inclusive of important… READ MORE

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