Sprains & strains (Ligament & Muscle), often described as pulls or tears are a common occurance in all sports. Ankle & knee sprains, groin & hamstring tears are some of the most common injuries seen in football.
The good thing about this kind of injury (if you can say such a thing?) is that once past the acute phase 12-48 hours and you have applied R.I.C.E (see previous Blog), the injury can be Graded 1,2 or 3. With this comes the ability to give the patient a good guide into the expected time to get back to playing.
The biggest mistake seen is the patient stating "I rested it till it till it felt ok and then went back to training/playing". The biggest risk factor to a sustaining any injury is having that 'previous injury'. There are many reasons to why the risk is increased from; 1) The accumulation of scar tissue, 2) Spasmed surrounding tissue which will decrease flexibility, 3) A decrease in muscular strength 4) Altered gait patterns to compensate for the injured limb
When we are young we appear to 'get over' injuries much easier, but there is no doubt that if gone untreated they will come back to haunt us and cut our playing career short and/or have a massive impact on us reaching our potential. I am sure you can name several players that have accumulated one injury after another and have not reached their potential.
Our goal at West Midlands Injury Clinic is to not only treat the injury and get you back as quickly as possible, but to teach you how to improve your chances of this not happening again. This can involve specific stretches, strength work and sports specific drills.
For more information, call Marvin on 01922 430918.
