Medicine College of Medicine, New York Institute of Technology Glen Cove, New York, United States
Introduction: Spinal cord injuries are usually associated with damage in the spinal cord. These injuries are extremely serious physical trauma that can have a lasting and significant impact on various aspects of everyday life. The objective of this study is to demonstrate spinal injuries occurring in athletes participating in various sporting activities.
Methods: Electronic databases such as PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Embase, MEDLINE Ovid, and Google Scholar were searched for articles from 2000 to 2022 on spine injuries in sports and radiological studies showing various injury patterns in athletes. Studies in accordance with the inclusion criteria were scoured, and relevant data such as participants, sporting activities, spine injuries, and outcomes were retrieved. Fifteen articles that met inclusion criteria were used for study.
Results: Cervical spine injuries are common in athletes who participate in contact sports such as football. Similarly, athletes in collision sports such as football, rugby, and hockey are likely to suffer stingers due to traction and compression injuries. Some players, such as those in soccer, baseball, and swimming, are likely to suffer from spondylolysis. Soccer players have shown to have more multiple lesions when compared to other athletes in sports such as baseball. In swimmers, spondylolysis is common in breaststroke and butterfly styles because they involve repeated flexion and hyperextension of the lumbar spine. Ice hockey athletes are associated with cervical spine injuries.
Conclusion : About 10% of spinal injuries in United States result from sports activities. In diagnosing spine injuries, imaging tests conducted using MRI, CT, or plain radiographs are essential. To a radiologist, these tests are essential as they help decide which treatment is required for a particular athlete or how the injury can be managed. Recovery from a specific spine injury usually depends on the kind of injury and rehabilitation process the athletes undergo before returning to play.
