Get Your Nose In The Game: Nose Injury Prone Sports

Any sports enthusiast would tell you that working out some sweat pumps up their adrenaline and energy. It is an invigorating feeling that they get after spending a couple of hours  in a game. But, if you are a sports addict, you definitely know that that is not just what you get out of playing sports. There are a lot of times that you will suffer from injuries. So, where does a ball or an opponent’s elbow might likely hit you? Yep, you guessed that right – on your face! Right in the center. Home-base on your nose. It bleeds, swells and leaves an aching pain.

Nose injuries on sports lovers, not only disfigure their faces, but can also threaten the functionality of their noses. Sports-related nose injuries are, in fact, included as one of the most common types of sports-related facial trauma along with damage to the zygoma and the mandible, according to Medscape.com. This is where rhinoplasty comes in to augment what has been damaged during an intense game of sports.

Statistics would show that a great number of men who undergo male rhinoplasty procedure figured into a sports-related injury that may have resulted to asymmetry or imbalance in the facial structure or breathing problems. Rhinoplasty corrects a crooked nose, an obvious bump and some cases internal damage to the nose. Also, constant trauma or injury to the nose weakens the nasal bones making it even more prone to fractures and damage. These make it crucial to get a nose job done, at some point.

Basketball

Undeniably, it is not surprising to learn that contact sports are the culprit of it all when it comes to facial traumas and nose injuries. The number one slot goes to the most popular sport, both played and watched, no matter the sex, is the game of basketball. You see it often when watching the NBA or the National Basketball League, players elbow brushing when playing defense or when jumpshooting for a score. You know that it is all part of the game, but when it gets intense the elbow brushing can get a little bit rough and hard. This is could sometimes lead to accidental injury to the face.

Source: The Chronicle-Telegram Online

Some of the most gruesome basketball injuries include Boston Celtic Allan Ray’s eye injury in 2006 when he got poked in the eye by Carl Krauser of the Pittsburgh Panthers. But, more notable was in 2010 when Phoenix Suns’ Steve Nash left winning with not just a black eye, but a dislocated nose, as well. Nash went to get a male rhinoplasty procedure done to fix a nasal fracture and displaced cartilage caused by the accident.

Soccer

A bloody nose is a common occurrence in the field of soccer. What not with a sturdy ball hitting right smack in your face would definitely result to a rather painful and bloody injury. Aside from the usual kicking of the soccer ball, soccer players oftentimes use their head to pass and “kick” the ball to their teammates to score a goal. This could lead to occasional head butting with at least one suffering from a nick on the forehead, a swollen eye, or worse, a fractured nose. Goalies are definitely one of the most prone members of a soccer team to be a likely candidate for an injury.

The World Cup is certainly the king of it all when it comes to soccer. Last year, during the World Cup qualifier game between Belgium and Serbia, things got a little bloody when Vincent Kompany of Belgium hit face first with Serbian goalie Vladimir Stojkovic in an attempt to hit another score in the 34th minute. Guess who got the biggest? Nope, it was not the goalie, but Kompany who writhed in pain as he suffered from a broken nose, mild concussion and a cracked eye socket. He continued playing with these injuries and went home with a 2-0 win.

Source: New York Daily News

Martial Arts

No sports could better define contact sports than the ironically disciplined game of martial arts. With every front kicks, side kicks or elbow blocks, you are most likely to get hurt from practically any part of your body. Interestingly, martial arts is a common sports activity for kids and young adults in their physical education classes or during summer period. While any kind of martial arts take high regard of the value of discipline in using the techniques and should only be used for self-defense, a tournament game can sometimes get intense and cause injury among the opponents.

Source: Pierre De Ronsard Blog

There has even been a myth going around that a martial artist can strike someone’s nose and drive its bone to the brain. While this is not true at all, a strong blow to the face, the nose in particular, could result to profuse nose bleeding and sometimes a fracture. If you are a parent and have a child who attends martial arts classes, make it a point to teach your child these tips when experiencing nose bleeding due to a hit.

• Do not speak, sniff, swallow, spit or cough
• Breathe through the mouth
• Tilt the head forward to drain the blood from the nostrils
• Keep pinching the nose for 10 minutes

Boxing

No other sports embodies injury than the intense and adrenalin-pumping game of boxing. It literally spells injury, trauma and blood. Among the most common injuries in the arena include nicks and cuts on the face, eye injuries, hand injuries, strains and sprains and haematoma. But, it can get more serious with an athlete suffering from concussion, brain injury and fracture to the skull and face.

In an article posted on the World Boxing Association official website, Dr. Calvin Inalsingh wrote that “Boxing is the only sport in which the objective is to render blows to the head and body of the opponent so as the cause the opponent to be incapacitated. Regardless who wins the fight; both boxers can have serious injuries at the end of twelve (12) rounds of boxing.” 

Source: The Ring: The Bible of Boxing

So, if you think about it, injuries such as that to the nose are not uncommon in the boxing ring. You would see it in televised boxing matches where boxers’ faces are swollen from all the blows they have received during a round. You might have seen boxers being administered with ice packs on their foreheads when they have bleeding noses and a swab soaked in adrenaline is applied to the inside of the nostrils to stop the bleeding. Dr. Ivalsingh further says that only when there is nasal fracture will further treatment be considered.

Aside from Dr. Ivalsingh, a handful of cosmetic surgeons also advise against getting a cosmetic nose job until the boxer retires from professionally playing the sport. Dr. Jack Peterson of Topeka Plastic Surgeon recommends to wait until the boxing career finishes before getting a cosmetic rhinoplasty unless you are willing to go through several revisions. However, this is considered impractical since a boxer will most likely break the nose on multiple occasions.

Hockey

You would think that for a sport that protects a player with a head gear, hockey is an unlikely sport to be included in the most prone to injury list. Well, think again. Ice hockey is an extremely brutal contact sport with players banging and pinning each other on the rink walls. So, highly possible for athletes in this type of sport to endure some trauma to their faces. And the very gear that protects them are the very ones that could aggravate the injury. Also, the tiny black puck that is traveling a whopping speed could severely damage ones face when hit. Aside from that, athletes can get hit by the hockey stick or even with another athlete’s skate blade.

Source: NorthJersey.com

This is the very case with ex-NHL player Pat Dapuzzo who suffered from a severed nose, concussion and fractures on the face. This unfortunate incident happened back in February of 2008 when Dapuzzo avoided a collision and got struck with another player’s skate blade to the face. Dapuzzo’s severed nose was sewed back on by doctors and needed more than 40 stitches.

Getting Professional Rhinoplasty Done

The case of Dapuzzo and other athletes who figured nose injury are just some of the cases where a good ole game of sports can lead to a serious case of damage to the nose. While most of you who are sports enthusiasts may only suffer nose bleeding at most, fractures to the nose that needs rhinoplasty procedure is highly possible to happen.

It is important then when this unfortunate case happens that you seek out credible and professional doctors who can give the necessary and appropriate fix to the nose. This is more important especially for men who are more inclined to get into these kinds of sports.

If you are one of those who have suffered a prior injury to the nose because of playing sports, getting a nose job could be the solution in fixing how it looks and bring back it functionality. For more information on how male rhinoplasty procedure can improve your sports-induced nose injury, a consultation with Dr. Ahnsup Andrew Kim of the Advance Cosmetic Beauty Surgery will give you a better understanding and idea of the entire procedure.