Sports Injuries: Prevention checklist every athlete should follow

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Sport Injuries

While basketball and bicycling topped the list of highest injuries in 2009 (from the Consumer Product Safety Commission) football & skating are close contenders. The most common sport-related injuries are ankle sprain and a hamstring strain, shin splint, and knee injury.

Here is an example of how 11 year old Maya was susceptible to one of them.

Athletic and broad-shouldered Maya had ‘always been a tomboy’ cycling with older kids as a child. She had gradually developed a keen interest in football and hockey. Her parents supported her with the right diet and the best coach to blossom. But they were quite unaware of what could possibly go wrong. They had no inkling of sports-related injuries, except the tennis elbow. Even that they thought was merely a pain at the spot between the forearm and elbow.  Repetitive stress or overuse of muscles in the elbow region actually causes tennis elbow. Changing the backhand technique or not holding the racquet too tightly can allay a tennis elbow to some extent.

As is usually the case, Maya had sprained the lateral ligament of her ankle. Her parents gave her the best possible advice, “Rest it out.” Orthopedic surgeons too recommend that one should not put weight on the sprained ankle or knee – at least not for 48 hours. One can sum up the medical advice in a neat acronym, RICE which stands for:

R – Rest, I – Ice, C- Compression and E – Elevation.

While you need to put the ice pack to the injured area for 20 mins, as many as 8 times in a day, compression on the injured area by way of an elastic wrap, a specially made boot will help reduce the swelling. However, caution is necessary – using the ice pack for more than 20 mins may lead to cold injury. Elevation simply requires raising the injured ankle or knee at a level above the heart, using a pillow.

Other Important Guidelines

Self-medication will create more harm than good. It is best to get a sports-related injury treated by an orthopedist. Doctors may advise you immobilization through a sling to prevent further damage or may suggest a surgery to fix torn ligaments and tendons.

Another way of treating sports-related injury is through systematic or step-by-step exercise. Gentle movement, first, stretch is the second step and only after a prolonged period of time should weights be used to strengthen the injured area.

Electrostimulation, thermotherapy or heat packs, ultrasound and massage – there’s a wide range of treatments available and let the experts suggest which will be beneficial for you. At times, one may need a combination of them.

As for the bubbly Maya, being at home entailed ample time to surf the net and gain information about how to prevent sport-related injuries in the future.

Her checklist now includes:

• A thorough warm-up before starting to play basketball or football unlike in the past when she used to skip the initial 10 minutes and plunge headlong into the game.
• Avoid hard surfaces. Maya was always particular about wearing the right type of shoes – ones that are shock-absorbent but did not pay particular attention to the court where practice sessions were held. Hard surfaces can particularly trigger tension in the soles of the feet.
• Listen to your body. Maya has begun to realize that strenuous training can drain her physically. She is now careful and doesn’t play when she feels tired after a hectic round of tuitions.

Maya’s football companions have learnt many facts about acute and chronic sports-related injuries from her! Sudden severe pain or not being able to move a joint as normal, extreme weakness all fall in the former category, and after Maya’s brief hiatus from the game all of them are particularly careful!

Want to know more about sports injuries? Book appointment with your nearest orthopedist today.