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Avoiding Injury: In order to avoid injury you can take a few simple steps to lessen the chances of injuring yourself. First of all, you should always wear the proper equipment when practicing or working out. In many sports such as lacrosse, hockey and football, helmets are very important, so are shin guards, wrist pads, and gloves if possible. Footwear should give good cushion to the feet, and should not be too tight or too loose. Footwear should also provide the foot's arch with good protection and support. As the adage goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of healing," one would certainly agree after being injured or straining a muscle. There are many different types of injuries, including: Bruise- Bruises occur under the skin, when the muscle or tissue has been hit and the capillaries burst from the impact. Therefore, a bruise will often cause the skin to become discolored (usually blue, black or purple.) Dislocation- Such an injury occurs when a bone is improperly moved out of it's joint. Often, the ligament attaching the bone to the joint is torn or stretched enough to allow the separation. Sprain- An injury of the tissues surrounding a joint. The injured person may feel sharp pain in the injured area, difficulty moving the area and/or swelling. In order to keep swelling down, apply a cold pack with pressure on the sore. Strain- Strains occur when a muscle has been over-worked. Constant strenuous activity of the muscle can cause it to become strained. What happens is that when you are moving around or using the muscle, after some time, lactic acid builds up from the lack of oxygen getting to the muscles and causes the muscle to feel sore. Tendinitis- This occurs when a tendon (the part which attaches muscle to bone) becomes stretched or torn. A pulled tendon will cause a great deal of pain in that area.