Sports injuries can range from being inconvenient to absolutely devastating, depending on how severe the injury is and just how professional you are as a player. A football quarterback who throws his shoulder could be out for an entire season and have his career take a massive hit or even end it. That is why proper physical therapy and recovery is necessary, for sporting players of all levels. You deserve to continue playing the sport that you love, and with the right preventative measures and know-how, you can. Exercise is so important, but injuries can and do happen. Here are six ways to manage your pain after a sports injury:
Just After the Injury
Immediately after the injury, you will want to ice and elevate it. If you can, use a compressing bandage and then ice that. If the pain is unbearable, there might be a serious issue with your injury that you will need to see a sports injury doctor for. A minor injury that you can walk off after an hour is not often something you need to worry about.
Six Ways to Manage Pain After a Sports Injury
The real issue is when you manage to harm yourself during sport severely. Though the ER and the hospital can do wonders to help you heal and maintain stability, they will not be there through your recovery. That is why you need to visit a recovery clinic like ours so that your body heals correctly the first time.
Reduce Inflammation
The first step to managing pain after a sports injury is to reduce inflammation. This can be achieved by:
1. Use Ice to Reduce Inflammation
2. Compress the Injury to Reduce Swelling
3. Elevating the Injury
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy works in two ways; one, by keeping the muscles relaxed and two, by improving flexibility. Chiropractic care can also be included to help keep your skeletal structure in proper alignment.
Hot and Cold Therapy
Ice is used to reduce inflammation, and heat is used to increase blood flow. Done by a specialist, this can help improve your recovery rate all while reducing pain.
Massage Therapy
Like physiotherapy, massage therapy is essential to help keep your muscles loose and pliant. If they are tensed and in pain, this can exacerbate your sports injury and lead to chronic pain.
Electrical Muscle Stimulation (EMS)
To help you strengthen your muscles while you are recovering, you can use Electrical Muscle Stimulation. This technique causes muscles to contract in specified areas and can help you strengthen your core while your back heals, for example.
Therapeutic Ultrasound
Ultrasound is used for both diagnostic and healing purposes. It has proven very effective at diagnosing the source of your pain and is instrumental in helping us devise the right treatment plan. There is also evidence that ultrasound can help promote the regenerative abilities in your body.
Managing pain after a sports injury can be tough, but try to aim for holistic methods over pain medication. The stronger version of pain killers have addictive qualities, and it is due to prescription pain medication that there is such a pronounced opiate addiction among the American population. By investing in physical therapy and other holistic (and non-medicinal) treatments, like EMS, or even psychotherapy, you can either rid yourself of pain or learn how to manage the pain without a steady stream of prescription pain killers.
At Icon Medical Centers, our Miami accident chiropractors and licensed massage therapists can help you recover after a sports injury, no matter the severity. At our accident clinic in Miami or Hollywood, we provide high-quality chiropractic care and physical therapy Hollywood FL to all our patients.