According to recent data from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) roughly 8.6 million sports injuries occur each year. If your injury represents one of these statistics, you’re probably wondering what your treatment options might be. In this guide, Spine Technology and Rehabilitation in Fort Wayne Indiana is pleased to provide you with some basic guidelines. Guidelines which promise to ensure that you understand enough about proper treatment of sports injuries to be your own best advocate.
In this guide you will learn:
- When to seek medical advice for a sports injury,
- What your doctor should know to properly treat your sports injury,
- What a comprehensive sports injury evaluation consists of,
- What treatment you should expect from your sports medicine team.
- Some common types of sports injuries,
- Why each sport is prone to specific injuries,
- The basic factors which drive your doctor’s treatment decision
When should I seek medical attention for a sports injury?
Many common, acute sports injuries can initially be addressed by applying the PRICE method. Specifically:
- Protect the injured area from further damage (e.g. splint, tape, crutch)
- Restrict activity which is offensive to the injury
- Ice (20 minutes on 20 minutes off the injured area)
- Compression (this can be done manually by your physical therapist for fluid mobilization, by a mechanical device or by applying an elastic bandage)
- Elevation
Steps 3, 4, and 5 are combined to decrease swelling and inflammation.
You should seek medical attention if:
- there are any signs of bleeding or infection, including refractory drainage from a wound
- discoloration beyond mild bruising and excess swelling or pressure sensation
- loss of strength or loss of sensation
- impaired weight bearing on the affected limb
- deformity of the injured body part
- failure to respond to the PRICE method within a few days.
What should my doctor know about my sport in order to properly treat my sports injury?
Your doctor should at least know enough about your sport to establish the proper diagnosis or cause of your symptoms. Each sport has its own unique demands upon our body’s structural integrity. One key to evaluating a given sports injury lies in understanding the sport and the sport specific mechanics that causes the injury. Consider that the biomechanics of your sport inform the physician which areas of the body undergo the greatest stress concentration with each activity, as well as what the potential pitfalls are with faulty mechanics or movement patterns. In other words your doctors, trainers and physical therapists need to be familiar with the sports related mechanics and required movement patterns, in order to really understand your injury. That knowledge helps your team to provide you with the best possible treatment outcome, as well as to boost your performance and avoid re-injury. In addition to performance and prevention factors, sports medicine addresses other vital sports-specific issues such as scheduling demands, recovery time, equipment and nutritional requirements.