How to deal with injuries
Different Injuries
Injuries come in all different ways and forms, with Chronic injuries being long lasting and develop slowly through putting different kinds of stress on your body; with Acute injuries being a recent injury such as an outstretched leg or landing on your arm.
Chronic Injuries
Chronic Injuries can be through active stress on the body by running, cycling and swimming etc, or through poor movement patterns or being sedentary for prolonged periods; prime examples of these could be poor sitting positions where you are rounding your shoulders and sat in a slump position, with lack of arm movement or control.
And for those who work on computers or repetitive motions by using your hands then nerve impingements (trapped nerves) and arthritis are also likely candidates for chronic injury.
A headache could also be classed as an injury due to the trapped nerves and tense muscles in and around the neck, shoulders and upper back causing headaches.
Chronic injuries are normally constant, painful and always create discomfort, living with chronic injuries are annoying, meaning you miss out on vital parts of life through being able to run 5k, lift your grandchildren up or comfortably go for a walk around the shops.
How to treat chronic injuries
A sports therapist and chiropractor can work with you through different techniques to manipulate your posture, release muscle tension, allow your joints to move freely and most importantly pain free.
Each chronic injury is different for each person, but the effort that you put in will minimise the time you’ll suffer from pain or discomfort, through exercise, lifestyle changes and guidance of a sports therapist or chiropractor you can become pain free for what seems like the first time in eternity.
Acute Injuries
Acute injuries are an injury that has just happened or will repair/recover within a short time scale from 1 hour to 8 months, depending on the severity of an injury. These injuries are common from trips, falls and collisions, where you land on or become trapped by or withing something or someone.
A torn muscle or broken bone can be an acute injury with timescale for both injuries varying from fairly quick to many months of recovery.
What to do when you injure yourself: use P.O.L.I.C.E.
P.O.L.I.C.E stands for:
- Protection
- Optimal Loading
- Ice
- Compression
- Elevation
Protection – avoid using the injured area. Depending on the injury you may want to stop blood flow that will cause inflammation & swelling. First few days, rest the muscle, joint or ligament with restricted pain free movement.
Optimal Loading – this is to keep as much passive range of motion (you or someone else moving the area with assistance without pain), muscle tone and reduce stiffness around the injury, progressively loading the area if possible.
Ice – 20 minutes with ice on 20 minutes with ice off for the first hour or so. This may help reduce swelling and acute pain around the muscle or joint. Apply ice with a layer of clothing or towel covering the area, not directly onto skin.
Compression – whilst applying the ice, you can add compression to the area, this will also reduce swelling, remember not to tie it too tightly around the injury as this can result in further problems.
Elevation – Try and get the injured area in line or above the heart, sitting or lying, using pillows around the injury to help elevate will do the trick.
Come see one of our friendly team of sports therapists down at Lushington Chiropractic Clinic in Eastbourne to assess and treat your injury.
Injuries & how to prevent them
As a sports therapist in Eastbourne who has worked with many different sports clubs and general public from teams and individual sports to mums who do fun runs and children with disabilities; Injury Prevention and rehabilitation has been a key part of my work outside of Lushington Chiropractic Clinic in Eastbourne.
By doing simple movements and exercises you can develop great balance, strength and agility which can reduce time of injury or prevent it all together. These exercises are fundamental to a happy healthy body and spine, done at the right time they can be incredibly effective, whether as part of your training programme or rehabilitation process.
If you are struggling from an old or recent injury and are confused what you can do for rehabilitation or how to prevent it from occurring, book today for a session with Aaron BSc Sports Therapist at Lushington Chiropractic Clinic in Eastbourne.
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By Aaron Goacher
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