Sports Injuries

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a woman holding her ankle from pain

Physical activity like exercising and playing sports could result in an injury. Proper stretching, training, and gear can help in sports injuries prevention but accidents do happen. Sports injuries can happen over time because you may be putting excessive stress on your joints and muscles. Sports injuries fall into two categories: acute injuries and chronic injuries. Acute injuries are injuries that happen quickly and without warning. Chronic injuries are injuries that happen after exercising or playing a sport over a long period of time. Allied Pain & Spine Institute is available to help if you are experiencing any pain from a sports injury.

According to WebMD, the most common sports injuries are:

  1. Ankle Sprain – This happens when you stretch or tear ligaments which are the tissues that connect two or more bones at a joint. The symptoms of a sprain are pain, swelling, bruising, and not being able to use that joint.
  2. Groin Pull – This happens when too much stress is put on the muscles in your thighs and groin which results in over-stretching or torn muscles. The symptoms are pain and tenderness in the groin or inside thigh area, pain when bringing legs together, pain raising knees, or a snapping feeling during the injury followed by severe pain.
  3. Hamstring Strain – This occurs when you strain or pull your hamstring muscle. This muscle is a group of 3 muscles that run along the back of your thigh. The symptoms are a snapping feeling with sudden severe pain, pain in the back of the thigh when using that leg, tenderness, and bruising.
  4. Shin Splints – This refers to the pain along the shin bone which is the large bone in the front of your lower leg. The symptoms are tenderness, soreness or pain on the inner side of the shinbone, and mild swelling in your lower leg.
  5. ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) Injury – This is a knee injury where you either sprain or tear your ACL which is one of the major ligaments in your knee. Symptoms include loud popping in the knee, severe pain and inability to continue the activity, rapid swelling, range of motion loss, and trouble putting weight on that side.
  6. Tennis Elbow – This is an injury to the muscle or tendon area around the outside of the elbow and brought on by overuse of the arm, forearm, and hand muscles. Symptoms include pain and tenderness in the knob on the outside of your elbow, pain in the upper or lower arm, and difficulty in using that arm.

For most sports injuries the RICE method- rest, ice, compression, and elevation- will alleviate some discomfort but may not resolve everything. The team at Allied Pain & Spine Institute will help diagnose and treat your sports injury. They will go over medical history, conduct a thorough exam which may include x-rays and image tests to target the source of pain and come up with your personalized treatment plan. Your personalized treatment could include physical therapy, chiropractic care, acupuncture, and medication/pain management.

Call Allied Pain & Spine Institute today to schedule your consultation.

Posted on behalf of Allied Pain & Spine Institute