A Complete Guide to the Various Kinds of Sports Injuries Experienced by Athletes
Sport is a profession in which a person is likely to experience some injury at some point. No matter the glamour, excitement, and material success associated with the career, injuries, aches, pains, and getting hurt are also undeniable and inevitable aspects of sports.
Since all human bodies are different, not all treatment plans work equally well for all kinds of bodies or injuries. With that in mind, it becomes essential to have a well-thought-out treatment plan that works for you and the injuries that your body sustains.
Keep reading if you want to learn about the different injuries you may face as a sportsperson and also get to know about sports injuries physiotherapy:
Bone Fractures or Cracks or Bruises
When a large amount of external force is applied to the surface area of a bone, it cannot handle the pressure and bruises or cracks under it.
A considerable amount of force applied abruptly or accidentally is likely to cause a crack or a break, aka fracture; the repeated application of pressure over time or experiencing it for a continuous period may result in bruising.
The areas that experience the most frequent bone breakage in sports are the arm, foot, ankle, collarbone, and wrist.
Contact sports such as soccer and basketball and collision sports such as hockey, football, and boxing are the biggest culprits for causing bone breaks in sports.
Different kinds of sports physiotherapy in Surrey for bone fractures include acupuncture, ROM (Range of Motion) exercises, electrotherapy, manipulations, etc. The treatment is continued for 3-12 months after the injury has healed.
Ligament Sprains
Ligaments are collagenous elastic connectors between two bones that aid in motion. When they get stretched or pulled beyond the limit of their elasticity, they become loose or break, causing a sprain.
Common areas to get sprained are limb joints such as ankles, knees, wrists, and elbows, with ankles being the most common joint to get sprained.
While mild sprains can be treated with modest home remedies such as applying ice on affected areas and taking rest, more severe injuries require personalized and professional treatment.
Sports that frequently cause ankle, MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament), ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), and knee sprains due to the pivoting motion and constant side-to-side movement involved in these games are basketball, skiing, American football, and soccer.
Wrist sprains are generally caused by falling and landing on your hands in sports such as gymnastics, whereas thumb sprains occur due to repetitive movements in golf, tennis, rowing, etc.
Physical Therapy and RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) protocol are valuable ways of dealing with sprains. While RICE is performed at home, you will need to consult professionals to get physiotherapy in Surrey for physical therapy.
Muscle Strain and Tear
Many people need clarification while trying to differentiate between a sprain and a strain. A sprain affects the ligament, i.e., the connecting tissue between two bones, while a strain affects the tendon, i.e., the tissue attaching a muscle to a bone.
Both sets of tissues are responsible for flexibility and mobility and serve similar but not the same functions.
Additionally, sprains are caused by ligament pulling or breakage; on the contrary, strains are caused by overuse or inaccurate use of muscles.
High-impact sports like football, soccer, and basketball and contact sports such as wrestling and boxing pose a very high risk of injuries.
The most common sets of muscles that get injured during sports are hamstring muscles, quadriceps muscles, and gastrocnemius muscles.
Repetitive Strain Injury
RSIs or Repetitive Strain Injuries are also known as overuse injuries because of the way they occur: through repeated exertion over time. They generally affect the upper body, especially the upper limbs.
Golf, tennis, running, and rowing are everyday sporting activities with high chances of causing RSIs.
Common examples of RSIs that are caused due to sports or athletics are tennis elbow, runner’s knee or patellofemoral pain syndrome, trigger finger, shin splints, etc.
Methods of RSI Physiotherapy in Surrey include shoulder and wrist rolls, medial and ulnar nerve glides, shoulder and arm stretches, etc.
Concussions
Concussions, also known as mTBIs (mild Traumatic Brain Injury), are a temporary state of mental and physical disorientation caused when the brain is accidentally jolted or harmed in another way, such as an accident.
Some examples of accidents that commonly give athletes concussions are incorrectly heading a football, car accidents in F1 racers, a blow from a boxer during a boxing match, etc.
Concussion rehabilitation first involves a thorough assessment of the damage sustained, and physiotherapy techniques are then assigned according to the trauma received by the brain.
If you are a sportsperson suffering from back pain injuries, connect with us at Legend Physiotherapy in Surrey.