Knee injuries comprise about 55% of all sports injuries, and around 25% of all problems treated by orthopaedic surgeons. They include runner's knee, cruciate ligament injuries and patella tendinopathy.

About 20% of sports injuries involve the shoulder. Shoulder injuries are most common in sports that involve overhead movement, like tennis, cricket, swimming, weightlifting and volleyball.

Ankle sprains are very common among football, rugby, hockey, basketball, and volleyball players. They are almost inevitable in sports that involve jumping, running and turning quickly.

Elbow injuries account for 7% of all sports injuries. Tennis elbow consists of tendon damage in the elbow due to repeated gripping or doing an activity that involves locking of the wrist.

Not warming up properly, fatigue, lack of flexibility, and weakness can cause muscle strain in all types of athletes. The most commonly pulled muscles are hamstrings, calf and thigh muscles.

Shin splints refer to pain on the inner side of the shinbone. Symptoms are generated by inflammation in the muscles that attach to the shin. It is also known as medial tibial stress syndrome.

Though less common in athletes, spinal pain can still affect runners, cyclists, golfers and tennis players. Pain can be felt in the facet joints, the ribs, or from trapped nerves caused by disc problems.

A groin strain is an injury to the adductors, the fan-like muscles in the upper thigh that serve to pull the legs together. This condition is common in sports that require explosive lower leg movement.

When the tendon at the back of the ankle (called the Achilles tendon) is overused, inflammation and pain often results. This is known as Achilles tendinopathy. If left untreated, it can become chronic.

Neck injuries are frequent in sport like tennis (as a player looks up to serve), rugby (in a driving maul or as a scrum collapses), and cycling (after prolonged periods in the saddle).