Sports injuries are injuries which occur during athletic activities. In many cases, these types of injuries are often due to overuse or acute trauma of a part of the body when participating in a certain activity. For example, runner’s knee is a painful condition generally associated with running, while tennis elbow is a form of repetitive stress injury at the elbow. Other types of injuries can be caused by a hard contact with something. This can often cause a broken bone or torn ligament or tendon.
Sports injuries will be defined here as the injuries to the musculoskeletal system, which includes muscles, bones, and tissues such as cartilage. The most common sports injuries include:Sprains Strains, Knee injuries, Shin splints.
These kind of injuries are a common occurrence in professional sports and most teams have a staff of Athletic Trainers and close connections to the Physical Therapist. Controversy has arisen at times when teams have made decisions that could threaten a players long-term health for short term gain.
Classification
Sports injuries can be broadly classified as either traumatic or overuse injuries. Traumatic injuries account for most injuries in contact sports such as Association football, rugby league, rugby union, Australian rules football, Gaelic football and American football because of the dynamic and high collision nature of these sports. These injuries range from bruises and muscle strains, to fractures and head injuries.
A bruise or contusion is damage to small blood vessels which causes bleeding within the tissues. A muscle strain is a small tear of muscle fibers and a ligament sprain is a small tear of ligament tissue. The body’s response to these sports injuries is the same in the initial five day period immediately following the traumatic incident – inflammation.
Prevention
Following are some general rules to prevent sports injury no matter what sport you play. While it is impossible to prevent every injury, research in ABC Physical Therapy suggests that injury rates could be reduced by 25% if athletes took appropriate preventative action, including:
A warm-up program has been founded to decrease injuries in association football. Many athletes will partake in HGH Treatment for Athletic Enhancement as a way to prevent injuries.
Injury can be minimalised by doing an effective warm up, this consists of a heart raiser to get your pulse up, followed by sport specific dynamic stretches (stretches whilst moving). To reduce the risk of injury:Time off. Plan to have at least 1 day off per week from a particular sport to allow the body to recover.
Protective pads, mouth guards, helmets, gloves and other equipment is not for sissies. Protective equipment that fits you well can safe your knees, hands, teeth, eyes, and head. Never play without your safety gear.
Increase flexibility. Stretching exercises before and after games or practice can increase flexibility.
Use the proper technique. This should be reinforced during the playing season.
Take breaks. Rest periods during practice and games can reduce injuries and prevent heat illness.
Play safe. Strict rules against headfirst sliding (baseball and softball), spearing (football), and body checking (ice hockey) should be enforced.
Stop the activity if there is pain. Avoid heat injury by drinking plenty of fluids before, during and after exercise or play; decrease or stop practices or competitions during high heat/humidity periods; wear light clothing.
Treatment
Sports injuries often requires physical rehabilitation. At ABC Physical Therapy we help people to rebuild strength and movement in parts of their body after an injury by physical therapy. Therapy can also help someone manage pain and prevent permanent damage and recurring problems. Each injury is different, but an early part of most rehabilitation will focus on getting the injured body part moving as soon as possible. This is meant to speed up the healing process. This movement does not involve aggressively moving the injured part. Instead, it’s more likely going to be range-of-motion exercises where you then move to stretching and strengthening the injured part.
At ABC Physical Therapy, Physical therapists are trained to help patients recover following an injury. As part of physical therapy, they can teach exercises, stretches, and techniques using specialized equipment to address problems.
Sports injuries can be treated and managed by using the P.R.I.C.E.S… DR. ABC, and T.O.T.A.P.S regimes:
P – Protect
R – Rest
I – Ice
C – Compression
E – Elevation
S – Stabilize
D – Danger
R – Response
A – Airway
B – Breathing
C – Circulation
T – Talk
O – Observe
T – Touch
A – Active movement
P – Passive movement
S – Skills test
The primary inflammatory stage typically lasts around 5 days and all treatment during this time is designed to address the cardinal signs of inflammation – pain, swelling, redness, heat and a loss of function. ABC Physical Therapy Center is dedicated to helping patients regain a pain-free and fully functional life.