9 Most Common Sports injuries!

WHAT IS SPORTS INJURY?

Sports injury can be broadly described as an injury which occurs while playing any sports or doing any athletic activity or exercising. As per the statistics published by NCHS (National Centre for Health Statistics US), almost 8.6 million sports and recreation related injuries are reported in a year. The common causes for sports injuries are overuse, direct impact, or the application of force that is greater than the body part can structurally withstand. With increasing participation in sports, competitive nature of the game over a period of time has led to increase in the rate of injuries. In conjunction, the advancement in Physiotherapy and Sports Science research is also on the rise that helps bring down the incidence. However, awareness regarding these newer options is extremely limited.

TYPES OF SPORTS INJURIES

To simplify these sports injuries they are broadly classified as-

1. Sprains (sudden stretch or twisting force subjected to a ligament)
2. Strains (fatigue, overuse or inappropriate loading of a muscle leads to muscle strain)
3. Spasm (painful and tender increase in the tone of a muscle due to sudden demand placed on the muscle)
4. Ligament tears (partial or complete break in the continuity of the ligament)
5. Muscle ruptures (partial or complete tear in the integrity of a muscle)
6. Dislocations (mal-alignment in the integrity of the joint)
7. Fractures (discontinuity in the bony architecture) 
8. Meniscal injuries (disruption in the structure of crescent shaped cartilage in the knee joint due to twisting or rotating movements at the knee)
9. Concussion (a mild traumatic head injury)

Credits: REHAB STATION

SPORTS INJURIES TREATMENT

The treatment for any sports injury will depend on factors like the severity of the injury, age of the player and also the body part affected. However, the first line of management in almost all sports injury commonly involves the famous acronym RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevation) which has been recently changed to POLICE (Protection, Optimal Loading, Ice, Compression, Elevation). The swelling is seen in majority of the cases that resolves within the initial few hours with appropriate Cryotherapy and compression sessions. Early mobilizations have been proven to improve rate of recovery and progressive graduated exercises helps reduce the risk of re-injury. On the contrary, sometimes immobilization is required to prevent further damage of the joint and tissue. It is advised to consult an expert after an injury so as to make the right decision about the injury.

Credits: Pure Physio Clinic

In sports physiotherapy, taping techniques, gentle manual mobilisations and equipment with modern facilities like electrical stimulation, vacuum electrodes aid in achieving edema reduction and accelerate the healing process. In these machines, the vacuum created inside the electrodes help creating space in the tissues so as to promote draining of the swelling. An add-on effect is produced by electrical muscle stimulation that brings about active muscle contraction to promote removal of excess tissue fluid from the site of injury. As swelling reduction and early mobilization is necessary for an athlete to fulfill his early return to sport demands. 

Following this initial phase of injury management, the plan of care in the next phase involves working on the injured muscle groups, identification of weaknesses and generating stability in the supporting structures. Joint motion and muscle strength are simultaneously worked upon to yield the combined end result of normal and pain free movements. It is important to perform exercises under supervision so as to have a healthy recovery. The understanding of progression of exercises plays a crucial role in physical rehabilitation, particularly in sports injuries. Usually the exercises are graduated from non-weight bearing to partial weight-bearing finally progressing up to full weight bearing exercises in case of lower limb injuries. 

In the later phase, physiotherapy exercises involve a lot of plyometric and sports specific training. Currently, the idea of sport specific training is to be able to duplicate or mimic a specific skill or action of one’s sport or activity in a controlled atmosphere. These specific drills help to encourage players to have a stronger comeback as a part of return to sport training. The exercises involved in this phase are exclusively athlete-centric and goal-oriented. It is important to attain optimal and symmetrical muscle strength and joint mobility on both the sides in order to minimize the incidence of re-injury. Agility, balance and co-ordination drills while incorporating sport-specific activities help enhance performance in training sessions on field. Combined with training sessions under the coach, we can thus help make the comeback stronger than the setback!

SPORTS INJURIES PREVENTION

We commonly come across people saying ‘injury is a part and parcel of playing any sport’ or tags like ‘no pain no gain’, but the concept is changing over the period of time. Fairly new concept of PREHAB – Preventive Rehabilitation is emerging and getting a focus in sports. Injury rate in sports cannot be nullified, but the risk and number of injuries sustained can be surely reduced.

Sports injuries, apart from the above classification can be broadly categorised in two parts:

1. Traumatic injuries:
2. Overuse Injuries:

Traumatic injuries as the name suggest happen in that fraction of a second when the athlete executes on field. However, overuse injuries are a resultant of the accumulated impact of imbalances existing in the musculoskeletal system. These imbalances could be in the form of strengths, lengths, and proprioception. PREHAB basically involves working on these imbalances before they land up in overuse injuries.

Credits: REHAB STATION

We, at REHAB STATION can help you identify these imbalances and work on them in time to help reduce the incidence of overuse injuries. Like it is often said but rarely applied, ‘An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure‘, we help you work on these flaws to keep the chances of an injury to minimal and enhance your longevity as an athlete or passionate fitness enthusiast!