Golden Rules to Reduce the Chances of Sports Injuries
How to Avoid Sports Injuries?
- Begin slowly and build up, especially after sports injuries
- Warm up first, and then warm down with stretches afterwards. You are less likely to injure a muscle if it is warmed up, and warming down will help the muscle to flush away toxins.
- Most injuries occur when movement is either sudden, or awkward
- Drink plenty of water before, during and after exercising to help your muscles flush away the toxins built up as a result of exercise.
- Exercise regularly, and try to alternate the types of exercise that you are doing every day
- Following a joint injury apply ice to the area for 10 minutes every hour, if practical. Apply a bandage to compress the tissues.
- Elevate an injured limb to help reduce any swelling and rest if possible.
If you do get injured, knowing what to you can do at home will always help.
Acute
Sports injuries that happen suddenly, even when performing a normal daily activity: eg. A twisted ankle on walking, a rib moves when you twist suddenly, cough and there is sudden pain in your back, lifting weights one day wrenches a shoulder.
Acute pain is alarming and is often accompanied with swelling & tenderness.
Treatment
- P – Protect yourself , use padding and protection- Avoid further injury & stop playing. Splints or crutches take the weight off injured knees and ankles.
- R – Rest- give the injury time to heal, even a small one
- I – Ice – Either cubes,cold pack or pack of peas, wrapped in a cloth, to avoid burn or hypothermia. The ice will help to reduce the pain and inflammation.
- C – Compression -Crepe bandage is always useful to keep at home; use as a firm support, to reduce swelling.
- E – Elevation – Raising the injury above the heart reduces the flow of blood to that area and will reduce swelling.
Chronic Pain
- Is a longer term problem, often caused by repeated overuse, not allowing time for healing. It’s often a result of stress or trauma to the soft tissue in muscles, tendons, bones and joints, initial symptoms can be vague, a nagging ache or pain, but without quick and appropriate treatment, can develop into a restricting and debilitating injury. You will often hear these injuries referred to as: RSI (Repetitive Stress/Strain Injury) or CT (Cumulative Trauma) Chronic pain is usually identified with: pain when performing activities, a dull ache when resting and swelling.
Book in for an appointment with one of the Richards team to see if they can help.
Read our blog on here for some handy tips if you have started running during lockdown.
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