According to recent data from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) roughly 8.6 million sports injuries occur each year. If your injury represents one of these statistics, you’re probably wondering what your treatment options might be. STAR Health in Fort Wayne Indiana is pleased to provide you with some basic guidelines. Guidelines which promise to ensure that you understand enough about proper treatment of sports injuries to be your own best advocate.
In this guide you will learn:
- Basics of sport injuries,
- When to seek medical advice for a sports injury,
- What your doctor should know to properly treat your sports injury,
- What a comprehensive sports injury evaluation consists of,
- What treatment you should expect from your sports medicine team.
- Some common types of sports injuries,
- Why each sport is prone to specific injuries,
- The basic factors which drive your doctor’s treatment decision
Sport injuries refer to any type of injury occurred during sporting or exercising activities, but does not solely affect athletes. These injuries can occur in anybody who doesn’t demonstrate the correct form/technique for an activity or sport, changing activity levels too quickly, have a history of prior injuries, or even taking medication that affects your joints and ligaments, putting you at an increased risk for these injuries to occur.
There are two broad categories of sports injuries: acute and chronic. Acute injuries refer to incidents that are sudden and recent (within the last week or two). Chronic injuries occur over time with repetitive movements or actions and are often overuse injuries. These appear over several weeks to months, and even years. Occasionally, an overuse injury will set the stage for an acute injury to occur.
When should I seek medical attention for a sports injury?
- Many common, acute sports injuries can initially be addressed by applying the PRICE method. Specifically:
- Protect the injured area from further damage (e.g. splint, tape, crutch)
- Restrict activity which is offensive to the injury
- Ice (20 minutes on 20 minutes off the injured area)
- Compression (this can be done manually by your physical therapist for fluid mobilization, by a mechanical device or by applying an elastic bandage)
- Elevation
- Steps 3, 4, and 5 are combined to decrease swelling and inflammation. The PRICE method is beneficial immediately after the injury, but will quickly need to be progressed to the MEAT method to provide the injury with an optimal environment to heal.
- Movement: keep moving the area to allow for blood flow and fluid movement to keep the joint hydrated and healthy so it can heal properly.
- Exercise: complete light stretches and appropriate exercises to continue safely stressing the tissues for improved repairing.
- Analgesic: keep the pain at a tolerable level to keep you moving without getting rid of it entirely and potentially overdoing it while the pain is gone.
- Treatment: implement good treatment options when needed depending on the injury type and severity (i.e. manual therapy, TENS, dry needling, shockwave, etc) in conjunction with a good exercise protocol you can be independent with.
You should seek medical attention if:
- there are any signs of bleeding or infection, including refractory drainage from a wound
- discoloration beyond mild bruising and excess swelling or pressure sensation
- loss of strength or loss of sensation
- impaired weight bearing on the affected limb
- deformity of the injured body part
- failure to respond to the PRICE method within a few days.
What should my doctor know about my sport in order to properly treat my sports injury?
Your doctor should at least know enough about your sport to establish the proper diagnosis or cause of your symptoms. Each sport has its own unique demands upon our body’s structural integrity. One key to evaluating a given sports injury lies in understanding the sport and the sport specific mechanics that causes the injury. Consider that the biomechanics of your sport inform the physician which areas of the body undergo the greatest stress concentration with each activity, as well as what the potential pitfalls are with faulty mechanics or movement patterns. In other words your doctors, trainers and physical therapists need to be familiar with the sports related mechanics and required movement patterns, in order to really understand your injury. That knowledge helps your team to provide you with the best possible treatment outcome, as well as to boost your performance and avoid re-injury. In addition to performance and prevention factors, sports medicine addresses other vital sports-specific issues such as scheduling demands, recovery time, equipment and nutritional requirements.