Remember when you were studying to become an athletic trainer, you learned about overuse injuries: why they occur, how they occur, their signs and symptoms, and how to treat them. Let's draw upon that previous knowledge for a moment.

Overuse injuries are aptly named because they are caused by overuse. If proper training principles and procedures are followed, overuse injuries should not be a concern. However, as you know from your daily work environment, overuse injuries are a very common ocurrence. Peterson and Renstrom (2000) state tissues can become prone to overuse injury because of two basic factors:

• Intrinsic factors such as muscle imbalances or anatomical malalignments
• Extrinsic factors such as training errors, faulty technique, incorrect equipment, or poor surfaces and poor training conditions

Of these factors, a predominant cause of overuse injuries is training error - when an athlete ignores the principles of progression in training. For example, when an athlete dramatically increases the intensity of training in an effort to improve performance or when an athlete increases the amount of time spent doing an activity without resting adequately. Another example is when an athlete performs an activity much more frequently than the body is used to, again not adhering to the principles that support proper tissue growth.

So remember, notable changes in intensity, duration, and frequency of performing an activity are key signs of an overuse injury.

Let's look at four specific overuse tendon injuries that are common for the hand and wrist in the sport environment:

• de Quervain's tenosynovitis
• Flexor carpi radialis tenosynovitis
• Extensor carpi ulnaris tenosynovitis/subluxation
• Intersection syndrome

Start with de Quervain's tenosynovitis (click Next), and work your way through the remaining activities.