Chronic pain can be caused by various sports injuries. There are two different categories of sports injuries that can cause chronic pain: traumatic injuries and overuse injuries. Traumatic injuries are injuries that happen suddenly, such as a sprained ankle or a broken bone from a fall. These traumatic injuries cause acute pain. Overuse injuries occur due to increased stresses on the body over time. However, both acute pain from traumatic injuries and pain from overuse injuries can become chronic.