(2 of 4)
But the vast majority of injuries result from what doctors call the "overuse syndrome"—trying to push the out-of-condition over-30 body too far too fast. Los Angeles Orthopedist Sonny Cobble says simply that weekend jocks as a class tend to suffer from "an acute case of simplemindedness. Most of us have a tendency to remember our youth." Dr. Marshall Rockwell, who together with several partners operates seven Los Angeles hospital emergency rooms, reports that a majority of weekend athletes are middle class and "tend to be quite competitive." Adds Braden: "It's almost like when they finally get out there, they feel like they'll never play again. People don't know when to quit."
Nowhere is the fact that man's (or woman's) reach too often exceeds his/ her grasp so dangerous as in weekend sports. A full-blown heart attack can happen right there in the middle of the doubles court, as the determined jock refuses to admit fatigue or acknowledge warning chest pains and keeps playing.
But most sports-related injuries fortunately neither kill nor cripple. They merely incapacitate in various ways. Cyclists are prone to knee pains, numbness in the fingers from pressing down on low-slung handlebars, lower-back problems from the bent-over position, and, yes, simple but irksome saddle burns. There are also reports of a more unusual disability in men that has been traced to long hours of bike riding: temporary sterility.
Racket sports, such as squash and tennis, are prime offenders. In squash it is the confined quarters that often lead to unpremeditated mayhem. But both games involve cutting movement, sharp changes of direction and sudden stops that can cause injuries to knee and ankle. Says Berson: "The knee joint really wasn't designed for these movements." Ankle sprains are common, especially in women whose tendons and ligaments have been stressed by years of wearing high-heeled shoes. Then there are ruptures of the Achilles tendon. In the unconditioned, the unexpected force exerted by rapid movements sometimes causes the tendon, which runs from the muscle in back of the leg down to the heel, to snap and roll up like a window shade. At the net, tennis players often suffer orbital injuries —blows to the ring of bone surrounding the eye. Says Gilbert Gleim, a biomedical researcher at Lenox Hill Hospital's Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma in New York City: "The opponent slams the ball and our Saturday's hero catches it in the eye." Or gets to eat what Braden calls "a fuzz sandwich." The sport's most common ailment, of course, is tennis elbow. A player's forearm muscles may not be strong enough to hold or control the racket correctly, resulting in an improper swing. Small rips or microtears develop in the tendons of the forearm muscles near the elbow, and chronic inflammation ensues.