Not All Pain Is Caused by Tissue Damage in Sports. Should Management Change?

t SYNOPSIS: A sports injury need not imply objective or subjective signs of tissue damage. Pain and impaired performance can count as an injury, which is often measured by the inability to play or participate in training and/or competition. Pain in the presence, and in the absence, of objective tissue damage is common in sports, but there are important differences in how sports-related pain and injury are managed, such as whether return to sport should be time and/or pain contingent.

pain in the absence of tissue injury.