The treatment you receive for a sports injury will depend on how severe the injury is and the part of your body that you’ve inured. If you don’t need medical treatment because it’s a mild strain or sprain, you can treat this injury at home using something called PRICE therapy. For a more serious sports injury you may need to have physiotherapy, or even surgery. Let’s take a look at the various ways you can treat a sports injury so you can find the best way for you:

How To Treat a Sports Injury

PRICE Therapy

PRICE therapy is the best therapy for a mild sports injury. PRICE stands for:

• Protection – use a support to protect the area from further injury.

• Rest – rest the area and avoid exercise. You’ll need to reduce your daily physical activity. If you can’t put weight on the injury, you might need to use a crutch or walking stick.

• Ice – apply an ice pack to the affected area for 10-30 minutes. You can use a bag of frozen veg wrapped in a towel to stop it from touching your skin directly.

• Compression – use compression bandages to stop swelling.

• Elevation – keep the injured area raised above the level of your heart. This can help to reduce swelling.

You should try PRICE therapy for 48 hours, after which you should stop compression and try moving the area. If your symptoms are worse you should go to your GP.

Pain Relief

Painkillers like paracetamol can be used to stop the pain. Ibuprofen can also be used to help ease the pain caused by sprains, and can also help to reduce any swelling.

Immobilization

Reducing movement prevents further damage, pain, muscle swelling, and muscle spasm. You can use a sling, splint, or a cast for this.

Physiotherapy

This involves using massage, manipulation, and exercises to improve your range of motion and give the normal function back to the injured area. You need to find a reputable clinic for this, such as Central Chiropractic Clinic Physiotherapy. This can also help to strengthen the muscles with a program of walking and swimming.

Massage

Some sports therapists and coaches think that massage can help to speed up recovery. This is because it can help to encourage the flow of blood to the affected body part, and these nutrients can help the damaged tissue. Your flexibility is usually also increased.

Heat Treatment and Ultrasound

Some sport therapists argue that using heat therapy and ultrasound therapy might work in the same way as massage as blood flow is stimulated and sent to the injured body part. Ultrasound has even been thought to speed up the healing process for fractured bones. However, there is little evidence to suggest this and although they both seem to relieve pain, they may not actually help with the healing process.

Depending on how serious your injury is, you’ll either be able to treat it yourself at home or see your GP in order to get referred to the best treatment for you!

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