Causes of Sports Injuries and Treatments

Sports injuries are very common and can be attributed to various sources linked to your exercise regime.

Injuries can be caused by things like high impact contact, not stretching properly, poor technique and lack of regular exercise amongst other things!

This blog post will focus on the most frequent sports injuries and how they can be treated.

Acute vs Chronic Sports Injuries

Depending on what sports you play, you may suffer injuries of two types. The first type is an acute injury which is one that happens suddenly. The second type is a Chronic injury, which has developed over time due to repetitive motion or impact.

Sports injuries we regularly treat include;

 

Achilles Tendon Injury – Acute or Chronic

Achilles tendinitis is an injury to the Achilles tendon. It can be caused by not stretching enough, not wearing the right shoes, or suddenly increasing your exercise regime. You may have Achilles tendinitis if your heel or calf hurts when you walk or run. It’s common in sports that require a lot of running.

 

Dislocations – Acute

These are common in contact sports, such as rugby and football. Symptoms include extreme pain, swelling, and not being able to move the area.

 

Patellar Tendinitis – Acute or Chronic

Sports with repetitive jumping are common triggers for this injury. Examples include basketball and volleyball. These sports are also played on a hard surface which can aggravate the patellar tendinitis (also known as jumper’s knee.)

Symptoms include knee pain just below the kneecap. You may experience weakness or stiffness in the knee while jumping, kneeling, or climbing stairs.

 

Rotator Cuff Injury – Chronic.

Your rotator cuff is an area inside your shoulder. Injuries to this area are common when the sport splayed includes repetitive motions. This includes sports like swimming, tennis, or golf.

Symptoms include swelling in your shoulder and pain when you lift your arm or reach behind your back.

 

Runner’s Knee – Acute or Chronic

Runner’s knee is another repetitive-motion injury. Anyone who does a lot of running, walking, biking, or general knee bending. It can also be caused by knee trauma or a hard bump to the knee.

Symptoms include pain behind your kneecap, especially when you bend your knee.

 

Sprains – Acute

A sprain is one of the most common sports injuries and are caused by falling or by a twisting motion. They can be mild or severe, depending on whether the ligament is stretched or torn. Symptoms are pain, swelling and bruising. You may also not be able to apply weight to the joint without pain.

 

Strains – Acute or Chronic

A strain occurs when you stretch or tear muscle tissue by overextending it. In sports, acute strains are most likely to occur when you are running, jumping, or lifting. They also happen when you quickly change direction. You’re more likely to strain a muscle in cold weather.

Symptoms are sudden pain followed by immediate limited range of motion to the affected area.

 

Tennis Elbow – Chronic

Tennis elbow is a painful condition caused by overusing your elbow. Tennis players and golfers are likely to get it. It causes pain on the outside of your elbow. The pain is caused by inflammation in the tendons. Other symptoms may include weakness, especially as you try to grip objects.

 

Advice on Treatments from Our Head Physiotherapist

“For an acute injury our advice, based on current research, is starting to move away from the traditional RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) route.

Whilst applying ice to an injury to reduce inflammation may seem logical, current research has shown that it may slow down the healing process. The body is actually a pretty amazing and wise machine. When it does something, it’s usually for good reason.

Taking the example of a fresh injury, the reason we do not apply ice is because the body is deliberately creating the inflammation in that area because it contains all the “ingredients” necessary for the tissues to heal themselves! Rather than being something to suppress, inflammation should be celebrated!*

Pretty cool, huh!?

We would also advocate for “relative rest” over total rest. For example, as a teenager I did a lot of gymnastics and netball. I therefore suffered many ankle sprains along the way (no rehab – doh! – meant I was the freak at uni when it came to trying to find ankle ligaments in anatomy class, I basically don’t have any!).

Initially, I was put in a brace and on crutches for a week to “rest”. A few years later however, I was being told to weight bear as much as I could from as early as possible and to try to maintain normal walking motion rather than limping. The same is still true now.

We would also advocate maintaining as much of your training routine as possible, whilst not overly stressing the injured part. For example, for the gymnasts I look after now I will work with the coach to put in place an altered training programme, maybe more strength and conditioning in order to still progress through the injury.”

 

Are you looking to get a healthcare professional to assess your injury?

If you have recently suffered from a sports injury or have been feeling any pain when practising any specific exercise, then it may be time to contact a sports and spinal physiotherapy centre to look at your issue.

There are many different treatment plans that you can follow to help reduce your pain and get you back to playing the sports that you love including; acupuncture, muscle manipulation, sports massage and more.

If you are based in Farnham and have been googling the following;

• deep tissue massage Farnham
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Then we may be the right clinic for you!

If you are looking for sport injury treatments in Farnham with a sport injury therapist in Farnham, then please get in touch with us.