Sports Injuries: Prevention and Treatment for a Faster Recovery

When you sign up for a sport, you also sign up for possible injuries. There are many reasons why you are left with injuries during a sport, and in many cases, you can’t avoid them just before they occur. But what you can do is to prevent these injuries with precautions. In this blog, we will explore these precautions and the best possible treatments in case you get a sports injury.

What is a Sports Injury?

First, let’s deeply understand what a sports injury is. When you play a sport, you have to do a lot of movement, like running, jumping, stopping, etc. Moreover, among all these movements, leg movements make up the largest part of it.

So, leg injuries are more prominent than other ones. Apart from fractures, most injuries occur in the ligaments, muscles, and cartilage. Here are some of the common sports injuries that sports person often face:

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear

ACL tear is an injury related to the knee in which the ligament that stabilizes the knee movement gets torn. This injury occurs due to sudden stoppage or change in direction, jumping, improper landing, etc. The ACL tear can be of three grades with an increasing order of severity. But what happens after an ACL tear? The rupture of this ligament can cause problems like pain, swelling, immobility and difficulty in almost any movement.

Meniscus Tear

The meniscal cartilage is another important part of the human body around the knee region. Just like the ACL, it also helps to support the knee bone structure and stabilizes to make movements possible. Moreover, it stops the knee from unusual movements like sideways or frontal movement. Now, due to the same reasons mentioned above, a meniscal tear can also occur. Sometimes, both the meniscus and ACL tear occur at once, which is one of the worst sports Injuries.

Patellar Tendinitis

Another common injury in sports is patellar Tendinitis, which is commonly known as jumper knee. Now, as per its second name, it is caused by the shock delivered to the tendon connecting the kneecap to the shinbone. The sports that it causes most in are volleyball and basketball.

These are some common injuries during sports, and all these injuries are related to the knee because it is one of the most engaged areas in the human body when it comes to playing any sport. Now, let’s look at how you can prevent these injuries from happening.

4 Tips to Prevent Sports Injuries

Taking precautions for sports injuries is the best way to minimize the chances of them happening. While it’s not a foolproof way to avoid injuries, you can lower the impact even if they occur.

Do Proper Warm Up

For a sportsperson, warm-up is as important as other training. However, people often ignore it or barely follow a comprehensive routine, which is why, over time, they lose the flexibility needed to prevent injuries. For example, if you don’t warm your legs properly, then you may lose the proper movement of your knee, which will result in making it a shock-prone part of the body.

In totality, you should follow a comprehensive warm-up routine before engaging in your sports training or strength training. When you do warm-up eccentric exercises for every part of your body, your muscles and other internal body parts, like ligaments, will become flexible and shockproof.

Do Strength Training

Apart from the warm-up, strength training is also very crucial for a sportsperson. It is because, ultimately, the bone structure, or what we say, the skeleton, is grabbed up by the muscles in the body. So, these muscles provide support and strength to the skeleton and hold its structure.

You can follow a day-wise schedule for strength training where you can train the muscles of one area at once. For example, you can train biceps and triceps muscles in one day and back on another. Similarly, you can give one day of the week to each part of the body. 

Also, ensure that you work your core as well, which often gets left behind due to lack of knowledge. The core area is important to train for the safety of your spine and other important organs.

Do Sport Specific Training

Both of the above-mentioned tips are common for all sportspersons, but when it comes to sports-specific training, you need to follow a schedule specifically created for your betterment in your sports. Basically, when you play a sport, there’s a difference between the engagement levels of different muscles of the body. For example, in footfall, your lower body gets highly engaged, which makes it impossible to train the lower body comprehensively.

You should do exercises that make your thighs, calves, and muscles around your knee strong. Similarly, for different sports, the sport-centric exercise will differ.

Wear the Right Gears

Additionally, always wear the gear made for your Sports. These sports gear are made to provide support to the muscles and bones, getting highly engaged during the sports. For instance, in sports like football, basketball, etc. You must wear a kneecap. Similarly, you should eat elbow and shoulder caps in sports like golf and tennis.

Three Best Non-invasive Treatments for Sports Injury

Now, let’s say you have a sports injury, so what will you do? It depends on the type and severity of the injury you have. But in today’s world, you can almost avoid invasive surgery. So, here are the treatment methods for Sports Injury, which are nonsurgical.

RICE Method

It is a method where four key practices are used to heal a sports injury faster. In this method, the doctor will first allow you to rest. Then, to manage pain, the doctor will apply ice to the affected area. Once it is done, your affected area will be compressed with precision to get rid of the swelling and internal bleeding. Finally, the elevation method is used to keep the injured area in a position where internal bleeding can be stopped and affected muscle, ligament, or cartilage can be realigned for reconstruction on its own.

Physiotherapy

For lower-grade sports injuries, physiotherapy is a great way to increase the natural healing capability of your body. It includes tissue massage and exercise to catalyze recovery. However, it should only be done by a physiotherapist who’s a specialist in this technique.

Regenerative Interventions

Surgeries can be invasive and have long-term implications, which is why regenerative interventions and interventional orthopedic methods are becoming increasingly popular. These methods use the power of your own body to heal the affected and injured ligament or tissue. 

For instance, if your ACL is torn, then regenerative interventions will use your own blood, plasma or bone marrow to make specific healing and regenerative components which will be implanted in your torn area to heal them.

Final Words

Preventing sports injuries, particularly knee-related ones, requires a combination of proper training, strength conditioning, and the use of appropriate gear. However, when injuries do occur, immediate care and a structured rehabilitation program are key to a faster recovery.

By following these prevention tips and treatment approaches, athletes and active individuals can protect their knees, recover more quickly from injuries, and continue to enjoy their favorite activities with confidence.