Injury Library
Professional Athlete Injury Library
A reference covering the conditions former professional football and baseball players most often live with — organized by area of the body. Each entry explains what the condition is, why athletes develop it, how doctors evaluate it, which records matter and how workers' compensation systems may treat it.
Brain & Head
Concussion, repetitive head impacts, lingering post-concussion symptoms and traumatic brain injury.
Concussion
A concussion is a traumatic brain injury caused by a blow or jolt that makes the brain move rapidly inside the skull, disrupting normal brain function.
Read the entryRepetitive Head Impacts
Repetitive head impacts are the accumulated sub-concussive blows absorbed across practices and games — hits that rarely cause immediate symptoms but add up over a career.
Read the entryPost-Concussion Symptoms
Post-concussion symptoms are the headaches, cognitive difficulty, mood change and sleep problems that persist well beyond the expected recovery window after a head injury.
Read the entryTraumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injury covers the broader spectrum of injury to the brain from external force, from mild injuries through those with findings visible on imaging.
Read the entrySpine
Cervical and lumbar conditions, disc injuries and degenerative changes accelerated by contact and load.
Cervical Spine Injuries
Cervical spine injuries affect the neck — its discs, joints, ligaments and nerve roots — and are common among athletes who tackle, block, dive or absorb repeated collisions.
Read the entryLumbar Spine Injuries
Lumbar spine injuries affect the lower back, where rotation, impact and heavy loading over a career often produce disc, joint and nerve problems.
Read the entryDisc Injuries
Disc injuries — bulges, protrusions, herniations and annular tears — occur when the cushioning discs between vertebrae are damaged by load, rotation or impact.
Read the entryDegenerative Spine Conditions
Degenerative spine conditions include disc degeneration, facet arthritis, stenosis and instability — the long-term structural wear that follows years of loading and impact.
Read the entryUpper Body
Shoulder, rotator cuff, elbow, wrist and hand conditions common to throwing, blocking and tackling.
Shoulder Injuries
Shoulder injuries include labral tears, instability, impingement, AC joint problems and arthritis — the price of a career spent throwing, blocking and tackling.
Read the entryRotator Cuff Injuries
Rotator cuff injuries range from tendinitis and partial tearing to full-thickness tears of the four muscles that stabilize and rotate the shoulder.
Read the entryElbow Injuries
Elbow injuries include UCL damage, tendinitis, loose bodies, nerve irritation and arthritis — driven by throwing volume in baseball and by impact and hyperextension in football.
Read the entryWrist Injuries
Wrist injuries include sprains, TFCC tears, scaphoid and other fractures, tendinitis and arthritis from repeated falls, impacts and gripping.
Read the entryHand & Finger Injuries
Hand and finger injuries — fractures, dislocations, tendon ruptures and arthritis — are among the most frequently played-through and least documented career injuries.
Read the entryLower Body
Hip, knee, ACL, meniscus, ankle and foot injuries, plus the arthritis that often follows them.
Hip Injuries
Hip injuries include labral tears, femoroacetabular impingement, hip flexor and groin injuries, and arthritis that often leads to replacement in former athletes.
Read the entryKnee Injuries
Knee injuries — ligament tears, meniscus damage, cartilage loss and arthritis — are the most commonly reported long-term problem among former professional athletes.
Read the entryACL Injuries
The ACL stabilizes the knee against rotation and forward shift; tears usually require reconstruction and are associated with arthritis years later.
Read the entryMeniscus Injuries
The menisci are the knee's shock absorbers; tears cause mechanical symptoms, and loss of meniscal tissue is strongly associated with later arthritis.
Read the entryAnkle Injuries
Ankle injuries include lateral sprains, high ankle sprains, fractures, cartilage lesions and post-traumatic arthritis from repeated instability.
Read the entryFoot Injuries
Foot injuries include turf toe, Lisfranc injuries, plantar fasciitis, stress fractures, Achilles problems and arthritis of the small joints.
Read the entryArthritis in Former Athletes
Post-traumatic and degenerative arthritis is the most common long-term consequence of a professional career, frequently appearing decades earlier than in the general population.
Read the entry