By definition, softball is not a contact sport. Yet because of the sport's frequent repetition of movement and combination of high-speed skills --- notably pitching, running, fielding and hitting --- softball injuries are frequent and can range from mild to severe. While sprains and strains are a part of most athletic activities, the prolonged overuse of certain muscles can do more pronounced, long-term damage to softball players.
Acute Injuries
Acute injuries come from one specific incident on the field. Most acute injuries are not serious, unless they involve a collision between players, or a player being hit by a batted or thrown ball.
The most common acute softball injuries occur in the lower half of the body, including sprain ankles and twisted knees from running the bases or fielding the ball.
A more serious acute injury involves the tearing of an anterior cruciate ligament. While surgery can repair this injury, players are unable to perform for great lengths of time while recovering.
Overuse Injuries
More common, but also potentially more severe, in softball are overuse injuries. These occur when a certain muscle, tendon or combination of the two are used repeatedly without proper time to recover.
The most common of these injuries is rotator cuff tendonitis, which affects the shoulder. It is frequently seen in pitchers.
Knee tendonitis is also a common injury. The pounding a player's knees can take from lots of running and fielding often causes this injury.
Caught early on, overuse injuries can be treated with lighter work loads, rest and anti-inflammatory medicine.
If overuse injuries are not caught early, or allowed to persist, they can cause permanent damage to a player's body.
Safety Equipment
One of the best ways to avoid softball injuries is to protect your body while on the playing field. Proper batting helmets with face guards can prevent serious head or face trauma from batted balls or mishandled bats.
Mouth guards are also recommended for this purpose. Catchers should wear proper safety equipment at all times because of their proximity to thrown balls and swinging bats.
Safe Playing Environments
Not only should players be equipped for safety, so too should the field of play.
Outfield walls should be properly padded to minimize injury to players pursuing batted balls. Players often lose track of the outfield wall while running for hard-hit balls; padding can take some sting out of the ensuing collision.
In addition, posts that are in foul ground should have padded bases to limit collision injuries, and fences surrounding the playing field should not have any sharp edges.
Stretching and Warming Up
Perhaps the most overlooked avenues for staying injury-free are stretching and warming up before playing.
Starting a game or a practice with tight, cold muscles amplifies the injury risk dramatically. Three simple stretches --- the lying knee roll-over, the elbow-out rotator and the rotating wrist --- can loosen up several key muscle groups involved in running, pitching and hitting.
Combining this with a few moments of catch and long toss can prevent a large number of injuries from ever happening.
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