INTERNAL ORGAN

INJURIES
BY:
SITI NURBAYA BT. MOHAMAD TAHIR
NORFADLIN BT. MOHD NOR
NORAINI BT. ABDULLAH
FAZEELA BT. M. HAIRI
NORSUZIYANA BT MAT ISA
 INTRODUCTION
 Learn about :-
 how to quickly evaluate internal

injuries
 alert medical personnel

 monitor the athlete until medical

help arrives
 FOR SUSPECTED
INTERNAL INJURIES
DO NOT…
 give an athlete food or water.
 allow an injured athlete to leave a
game or practice while unattended.
 allow an athlete who has suffered
an apparently minor in blow in the
area of an internal organ to go
home until you warn both the
athlete and his or her parents of the
signs and symptoms of a serious
internal injury.
 INTERNAL INJURY
INSTRUCTIONS
 Call a physician or be assisted to the
emergency Room at a local hospital if
your child experiences one or more of
the following :
1. Nausea
2. Vomiting
3. Abdominal cramps or rigidly
4. Skin pallor, weak pulse or dizziness
(shock)
5. Discoloration of urine (copper or red)
 SERIOUS INTERNAL
INJURIES
Ruptured spleen

MOST COMMON SERIOUS

INTERNAL INJURIES

Bruised kidney Testicular trauma

 MINOR INTERNAL INJURIES
 The most common minor internal
injuries are the:
 Side stitch

 Gastritis

 The symptoms and signs of these

conditions may mock those of a
more serious injury.
 Do not take even apparently
minor injuries lightly.
 Definition History

Cause Symptoms

Enclosure
RUPTURED SPLEEN

Signs Playing Status

First Aid Prevention

 Definition
 This is a life-threatening contusion
injury to the spleen.
 Cause

 The spleen is usually injured by a

direct blow to either of those
areas.
 The blow bruises the spleen
tissue and can cause profuse
internal bleeding, because the
spleen acts as a reservoir for red
blood cells.
 History

 The athlete received a direct blow

to the left upper abdominal area.
 Symptoms

 Initially, the athlete feels pain in

the left upper abdominal area.
 Later, pain progresses to the left
shoulder and or neck.
 The athlete feels faint or dizzy.
 Signs

 Initially, tenderness over left

upper abdominal area.
 Abrasion or bruise over injured
area.
 In advanced stages, pale skin,
rapid pulse, possibly vomiting,
rigid abdominal muscles, low
blood pressure, shortness of
breath.
 First Aid

 Send for emergency medical

assistance if the initial symptoms
and signs last longer than a few
minutes or progress to the
advanced stages.
 Monitor the athlete’s ABCs and
provide rescue breathing or CPR if
necessary.
 Treat for shock if necessary.
 Treat other injuries, such as
possible rib fractures.
 Playing Status

 The athlete cannot return to

activity
 If an athlete’s signs and
symptoms do not progress to the
advanced stages
 A bruised spleen can easily be
ruptured if the athlete returns to
participants before the bruise fully
heals.
 Prevention

 Require athletes to wear proper

protective padding.
 Do not allow athletes suffering
from mononucleosis to participate
in sport until released by a
physician.
 In mono, the spleen enlarges and
is vulnerable to contusion injuries.
 Cause
History

Definition
Symptoms

Enclosure BRUISED KIDNEY

Prevention
Signs

Playing Status

First Aid
 Definition
 This is a contusion to the kidney.
 Cause
 Direct blow to either side of the
midback
 History

 The athlete received a direct blow

to either side of the midback.
 Symptoms

 Initially, the athlete feels pain at

the site of the blow.
 Later, pain moves to the low back,
outside thighs, or front pelvic
area.
 The athlete feels faint or dizzy.
 Signs

 Bruise or abrasion over injured

area
 Tenderness over the injured area
 Frequent and burning urination
 Cloudy or bloody urine
 Rigid back muscles over the injury
site
 Pale skin
 First Aid

 Send for emergency medical

assistance if the initial signs and
symptoms do not stop within a
few minutes or if they progress to
the advanced stages.
 Monitor the ABCs and provide
rescue breathing or CPR if
necessary.
 Treat for shock if necessary.
 Treat other injuries as needed.
 Playing Status
 The athlete cannot return to
activity until he or she is released
by physician.
 A mildly bruised kidney can
worsen over time and become
life-threatening.
 Prevention

 Require athletes to wear proper

protective padding such as kidney
pads or flak jacket (especially in
football)
 Definition
Cause

History

Symptoms

Enclosure TESTICULAR TRAUMA

Signs

First Aid
Playing St
atus
Prevention
 Definition
 Contusion or trauma to the testicles.
 Cause

 A direct blow to the groin area.

 History

 The athlete suffered a direct blow

to the groin area.
 Symptoms
 Pain
 Nausea
 Signs

 Athlete perform a self-exam,

looking for swelling, discoloration
and deformity.
 Spasm
 First Aid
 Place the athlete on his back.
 Push his knees up toward his
chest; continue until pain
decreases.
 Apply ice for 15 minutes ti the
area.
 Send the athlete to a physician if
the pain does not stop after 20
minutes, if the testicles draw
upward, or if the athlete has
bloody or cloudy urine.
 Playing Status
 Cannot return to activity until the
pain and swelling subside or until
he is released by physician.
 Prevention
 Require male athletes in contact
sports to wear protective athletic
supporters, and recommend that
they wear cups.
 Cause

Definition Symptoms

SIDE STITCH

Signs Prevention

Playing St
First Aid atus
 Definition
 Cramping feeling felt in either the
right or left side.
 Most often felt by runners or
athletes who lack cardiovascular
endurance.
 Cause
 Unknown
 Symptoms
 Sharp pain is felt in the side
during activity.
 The pain usually disappears after
the athlete rests.
 Signs

 None
 First Aid

 Tell the athlete to bend over and

push his or her fingertips into the
painful side.
 Have the athlete take a deep
breath and blow it out through
tight lips.
 Instruct the athlete to stretch the
muscles by placing the arm
overhead and bending at the
waist over to the opposite site.
 Playing Status
 The athlete can return to activity
once the pain subsides and
breathing and heart rates are
normal.
 If the pain does not subside, the
athlete must be seen and
released by a physician to rule out
other problems.
 Prevention

 Have athletes warm up

adequately with light jogging and
stretching before strenuous
activity.
 Instruct athletes not to eat within 2
hours before strenuous activity.
 Spleen Injuries in Athletes
ATC CORNER
 A high school football player is hit in the stomach while
running the football.
 The collision is hard and "knocks the breath out" of the
player.
 He lies on the field gasping for air while the coach and
certified athletic trainer (ATC) check on him.
 The athlete calms down, takes a few deep breaths, then
jumps up.
 He rests on the sideline for a few minutes, and the coach
puts him back in the game on the next play.
 He comes off the field a few plays later and tells the ATC
that his stomach hurts where he got hit.
 He begins to feel nauseated, so the ATC asks him to lie
down on the bench.
 The player reports that his left shoulder hurts.
 The ATC suspects that the athlete has an injured spleen
and tells the coach that the player needs to go to the
emergency room as soon as possible.
 In the emergency room, the athlete is examined and tested.
 Later that night, he has surgery to repair his ruptured
spleen.
Why is the spleen
important?
 The spleen is one of the body's largest
organs and serves the blood production and
filtering system.
 It is located under the left side of the rib cage
and can be injured with direct contact to that
area.
 The spleen acts as a reservoir of red blood
cells and a producer of white blood cells;
therefore, an injury to it sometimes results in
blood spilling into the abdomen.
 However, the organ is encased in a tough,
fibrous capsule that helps hold it in place.
 If the capsule is not torn, it can limit the
amount of blood that seeps into the
abdominal space after injury.
 This organ also is very active in producing
antibodies for the immune system.
 When an athlete has mononucleosis
(commonly called "mono" or "kissing
disease"), the spleen enlarges to produce
more antibodies and more white blood cells
and to continue acting as a blood filter.
 These functions are vital for the athlete with
mononucleosis. However, if the sick athlete
participates in contact and collision sports, he
or she has a higher risk of injury to the
spleen.
 Often, the enlarged spleen protrudes from its
normal position under the protection of the rib
cage.
 Therefore, the spleen can be ruptured easily
with a direct blow to the left side of the upper
abdomen.
 As a result, athletes with mononucleosis are
restricted from contact and collision sports.
 Once the athlete has recovered from
mononucleosis and a doctor has confirmed that the
spleen is no longer enlarged, the athlete may
participate in his or her sport once again.
 In a healthy athlete, the spleen is subject to injury
when the athlete's body makes contact with another
athlete or an object, such as a fence or bench.
 The athlete described previously recovered and
was able to return to football because his injury was
recognized promptly and treated correctly.
 If your athlete has symptoms of nausea, stomach
pain, and pain in the left shoulder after a blow to the
stomach, take him or her to a doctor or to an
emergency room for immediate evaluation.

Bruce Getz, ATC

Columbus, Georgia
 The spleen, a spongy, soft organ
about as big as a person's fist, is
located in the upper left part of the
abdomen, just under the rib cage.
 The splenic artery brings blood to the
spleen from the heart.
 Blood leaves the spleen through the
splenic vein, which drains into a larger
vein (the portal vein) that carries the
blood to the liver.
 The spleen has a covering of fibrous
tissue (the splenic capsule) that
supports its blood vessels and
lymphatic vessels.
Viewing the Spleen

Back to Serious
 The spleen is made up of two basic types of tissue: the
white pulp and the red pulp, each with different
functions.
 The white pulp is part of the infection-fighting
(immune) system.
 It produces white blood cells called lymphocytes,
which in turn produce antibodies (specialized proteins
that protect against invasion by a foreign substance).
 The red pulp filters the blood, removing unwanted
material.
 The red pulp contains other white blood cells called
phagocytes that ingest microorganisms, such as
bacteria, fungi, and viruses.
 It also monitors red blood cells, destroying those that
are abnormal or too old or damaged to function
properly.
 In addition, the red pulp serves as a reservoir for
different elements of the blood, especially white blood
cells and platelets (cell-like particles involved in
clotting).
 However, releasing these elements is a minor function
of the red pulp.
 A person can live without a spleen. Sometimes the
spleen must be removed surgically (splenectomy)
because of irreparable damage (for example, due to
an injury sustained in a car accident).
 When the spleen is removed, the body loses some of
its ability to produce protective antibodies and to
remove unwanted microorganisms from the blood.
 As a result, the body's ability to fight infections is
impaired.
 People who do not have a spleen are at particularly
high risk of pneumococcal infections because of the
spleen's role in fighting certain kinds of bacteria, such
as pneumococcus.
 Despite these problems, however, the spleen is not
critical to survival: Other organs (primarily the liver)
compensate for the loss by increasing their infection-
fighting ability and by monitoring for and removing
red blood cells that are abnormal, too old, or
damaged.
Back to Serious
 The testicles are suspended in the
scrotal sac.
 Testicular torsion occurs when the testicle, normally
attached to the scrotum by a small ligament at its
base, becomes loose.
 The testicle can then twist on itself, cutting off its flow
of blood.
 Testicular torsion is considered an emergency.
 Surgery is usually required, and it should be
performed within about 5 hours from the onset of
symptoms to save the testicle.
 General anesthesia is used and the patient is deep
asleep and pain-free. An incision is made in the
scrotum, the testicle is uncoiled, and an absorbable
suture is placed to secure the testis from rotating
again. The unaffected testicle is also secured by
suture because the problem tends to occur on both
sides and the unaffected side is at increased risk for
torsion at a later date.
 After surgery, ice packs are applied to relieve pain and
swelling.
 A scrotal support may have to be worn for a week after
surgery. Normal activity may be resumed gradually.

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