Understanding Sports Injuries and How Attain Physical Therapy Can Help

What are Sports Injuries?

Sports injuries are injuries that occur during athletic activities, exercise, or sports. These injuries can happen to athletes of all levels including kids in school sports, weekend warriors, and professional competitors. Sports injuries are usually made up of muscle strains, ligament sprains, fractures, bone bruises, concussions, and injuries requiring surgical intervention. Understanding the specific type and cause of your sports injury is crucial for effective treatment and prevention.

Common Types of Sports Injuries 

Sports injuries can vary widely, but some of the most common types include:

  • Ankle Sprains
  • Bone Fractures in the arms, legs, or back
  • ACL/PCL tears in the knees
  • LCL/MCL sprains in the knees or elbows
  • Dislocations or Subluxations in the shoulders, kneecaps, or hips
  • Concussions due to contact to the head
  • Muscle strains in the arms, legs, or back
  • Non-surgical knee, hip, back, or shoulder pain

Causes of Sports Injuries

The causes of sports injuries are varied and can include:

  • Overuse: Repetitive motions and overtraining can lead to overuse injuries, such as tendinitis, muscle strains, and stress fractures.
  • Improper Technique: Using incorrect form or technique can put undue stress on the body and lead to injuries sometimes affecting a joint below or above the area of weakness
  • Lack of Conditioning: Poor conditioning and inadequate warm-up can increase the risk of injuries.
  • Direct Impact: Collisions with other players, equipment, or the ground can cause acute injuries, such as fractures, ligamentous tears, and dislocations.
  • Environmental Factors: Playing surfaces, weather conditions, and equipment can also contribute to sports injuries.
  • Poor Nutrition: Lack of adequate muscle nutrition can cause reduced quality of activation and ability to stretch leading to potential strain or sprain

How Physical Therapy Helps with Sports Injuries

1. Start with an Evaluation

  • Detailed Evaluation: At Attain, we will perform an evaluation to assess the severity of your injury and investigate why it occurred whether it’s the activity that led to the injury or it’s possibly from weakness somewhere else in the body. some text
    • We can also provide an approximate timeline for you to return to your desired activity with minimal risk of new injury or re-injury.
  • Personalized Treatment Plan: Based on the evaluation, a customized treatment plan is developed to address your unique needs and goals, considering the nature of your sports injury and your specific sport

2. Pain and Inflammation Management

  • Education: Our therapists will provide education to help you understand your symptoms better, we also educate you on ways to take control of your own pain.
  • Manual Therapy: Hands-on techniques, including massage, joint mobilization, and soft tissue manipulation, help relieve pain, improve circulation, and enhance tissue mobility.
  • Potential Surgery: If your injury resulted in a surgery, we will ensure that you understand your limitations post surgery, the timeline of safe return to sport, and educate you on what to do and what not to do so there are no disruptions to the healing process that could set you back even longer..

3. Promoting Healing

  • Rest and Protection: Advising on appropriate rest and protection strategies to allow the injured tissues to heal properly.
  • Guided Load Introduction: Expertly re-introducing load and stress to the injured area to promote healing and assist with faster recovery
  • Surgery: If you had a surgery, there may be certain limitations on what we can perform to allow the surgery to fully heal the area so the incisions can heal and the tissues that may have been reconstructed can heal as strongly as possible.

4. Restoring Mobility

  • Stretching Exercises: Specific stretches to improve flexibility and reduce muscle tension around the affected area.
  • Range of Motion Exercises: Gentle mobility exercises to restore movement and reduce stiffness in the joints and muscles, promoting better overall mobility.

5. Improving Strength

  • Strengthening Exercises: Targeted exercises to build strength in the muscles that support the injured area, reducing the burden on painful structures and improving overall stability.
  • Progressive Resistance Training: Gradually increasing resistance to build strength without exacerbating pain, tailored to your tolerance and progress.

6. Enhancing Function and Performance

  • Functional Training: Exercises and activities designed to mimic sports-specific movements and improve functional abilities, helping you regain confidence and performance in your sport.
  • Agility and Coordination Drills: Incorporating drills to improve agility, coordination, and balance, essential for athletic performance.

7. Injury Prevention Education

  • Education on Injury Prevention: Providing information on how to prevent future sports injuries, including proper warm-up and cool-down routines, stretching techniques, and body mechanics.
  • Ergonomic Advice: Offering recommendations for optimizing your training environment and techniques to reduce the risk of injury.

8. Return to Sport

  • Gradual Return to Activity: Developing a safe and effective plan for gradually returning to your sport, ensuring that you are adequately prepared and minimizing the risk of re-injury.
  • Performance Enhancement: Offering strategies to enhance your athletic performance, including sport-specific conditioning and training techniques.

If you are experiencing pain from a sports injury, new or old, don’t wait to seek help. Contact Attain Physical Therapy today to schedule your initial evaluation and take the first step towards a pain-free life.

Contact Us
Schedule an Appointment