SPORTS INJURIES

"Practice does not make perfect it makes permanent"
-Aristotle

Fitness is the key to prevention and rehabilitation as well as achieving your peak fitness goals. Dr. Kobsar, our founder, has helped numerous elite athletes and dancers.

Exercising is good for you, but sometimes you can injure yourself when you play sports or exercise. Accidents, poor training practices or improper gear can cause them. Some people get hurt because they are not in shape. Not warming up or stretching enough can also lead to injuries.

The most common sports injuries are

• Sprains and strains
• Knee Injuries
• Swollen muscles
• Achilles tendon injuries
• Shin Pain (Shin Splints)
• Fractures
• Dislocations

TREATMENT

Self Care:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           If you get hurt, stop playing. Continued play or exercise can cause more harm. Treatment often begins with RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation) to relieve pain, reduce swelling and speed healing. Follow these 4 steps immediately after injury and continue for at least 48 hours.

• Rest. Reduce regular exercise or activities of daily living as needed. If you cannot put weight on an ankle or knee, crutches may help.
• Ice. Apply an ice pack to the injured area for 20 minutes at a time, four to eight times a day. An plastic bag filled with crushed ice and wrapped in a towel can be used.
• Compression. Compression of the injured area may help reduce swelling. Elastic wraps, special boots, air casts, and splints are helpful.
• Elevation. If possible, keep the injured ankle, knee, elbow, or wrist elevated on a pillow, above the level of the heart, to help decrease swellng.

Therapeutic Care:

• Electrostimulation: Provides pain relief by preventing nerves from sending pain signals to the brain, reducing swelling and contracting immobilized muscles, thus preventing atrophy and loss of strength.
• Cold/cryotherapy: Ice packs reduce inflammation by constricting blood vessels and limiting blood flow to the injured tissues. Cryotherapy eases pain.
• Moist Heat: Causes the blood vessels to dilate and increase blood flow to the injured site. It should not be applied in the first 48 hours after an injury.
• Ultrasound: High-frequency sound waves produce deep heat that is applied directly to an injured area which stimulates blood flow to promote healing.
• Massage: Manual pressing, rubbing, and manipulation soothes tense muscles and increases blood flow to the injury site.

Rehabilitation

With most injuries, getting the part moving as soon as possible, will speed healing. Start with range-of-motion exercises and then stretching and strengthening exercise. When you are ready, weights are added to further strengthen the injury. As damaged tissue heals, scar tissue forms, resulting in contraction that increases risk of reinjury. That's why rehabilitation is so important.

Progression is the key principle. Start slow and gradually increase. In the modern, functional, sports medicine approach to conditioning, the components of high-level fitness include agility, balance, coordination, endurance, flexibility, strength, power, and speed . These are all considered building blocks for enhanced sport-specific performance to begin instruction in balance and proper body mechanics related to the sport; and a planned return to full participation. Don't resume your sport until you are sure you can stretch the injured tissues without any pain, swelling, or restricted movement. When you do return to your sport, start slowly and gradually build up to full participation.

We also incorporate Yoga and Pilates into our cutting edge, functional-core workouts. Our goal is to increase your resistance or repetitions with assurance of underlying balance and "core" stability that will achieve enhanced performance and injury prevention. Once you have recovered from your injury or pain our preventive emphasis on independent functional training workouts can give you the fitness edge you are looking for.

Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs)
To reduce inflammation and pain, health care providers often recommend over-the-counter NSAID's such as aspirin, ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin/Nuprin) or naproxen (Aleve). Though not an NSAID, another commonly used medication, acetaminophen (Tylenol), may relieve pain but it has no effect on inflammation.                                                             

Like all meds, NSAIDs have side effects. The list of adverse effects includes nausea, abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea. Changes in liver function frequently occur in children (but not in adults) who use aspirin.

Immobilization                                                                                                                                                                                                                          A common treatment for sports injuries is reducing movement to prevent further damage, reduce pain, swelling, and muscle spasm. Following are some common devices used:

• Slings, to immobilize the upper body, including the arms and shoulders.
• Splints and casts, to support and protect injured bones and soft tissue. Casts can be made from plaster or fiberglass. Splints can be custom made or ready made. Standard splints come in a variety of shapes and sizes and have Velcro straps that make them easy to put on and take off or adjust. Splints generally offer less support and protection than a cast, and therefore may not always be a treatment option.
• Leg immobilizers, to keep the knee from bending after injury or surgery. Made from foam rubber covered with fabric, leg immobilizers enclose the entire leg, fastening with Velcro straps.

Surgery

In some cases, surgery is needed to repair torn connective tissues or to realign compound fractures. The vast majority of sports injuries, however, do not require surgery.