Understanding Sports Injury
A sports injury is simply an injury sustained while playing or after playing sport. This can happen from a tackle, a sudden change of direction, or even just pushing yourself to your limits during training.
Here at Balgowlah Sports Injury, we see a wide range of common sports injuries, including:
- Hip pain: This can be caused by a variety of factors, including muscle strains, tendonitis, and bursitis.
- Shoulder injury: These can range from rotator cuff tears to labral tears and impingement.
- Tennis elbow: This is a common overuse injury that affects the tendons on the outside of the elbow. Explore more on tennis elbow.
Other common sports injuries: We also treat torn muscles or ligaments, corks (muscle contusions), fractures, wrist impaction injuries, back and spinal pain, ACL and knee injuries, shin splints, running injuries, and cartilage injuries.
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Understanding the Causes behind Sports Injuries
There are two main factors that can cause injuries:
- External Force: A force from outside your body that pushes a joint beyond its normal range of motion. For example, a tackle in football that twists your knee beyond its normal range could tear your ACL ligament or damage the cartilage in your knee. This type of force can also come from something as simple as stepping on a stick while running and rolling your ankle.
- Overload: Overuse of a muscle or tendon can cause it to become overloaded, leading to inflammation, pain, and weakness. These are known as tendinopathies. These injuries are common in athletes, especially when they increase their training load too quickly. Common sites of tendinopathies include the Achilles tendon, biceps tendon, hamstring, and forearm (tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow). Stress fractures, which are small cracks in the bone and Hip pain can also be caused by overuse.
Injury Treatment Approaches for Athletes
The treatment for an injury will depend on several factors, such as the type of injury, its severity, and whether there are other healthcare professionals involved in your care. Here’s a general overview of recovery times for different tissues:
Muscle: 2-6 weeks
Tendons: 8-12 weeks
Ligaments: Up to 8 weeks
Bones (fractures): At least 6 weeks to heal and 12 weeks for return to sports
Back joint irritation: 2-4 weeks
Spinal disc bulge: Up to 12 weeks
Dislocation: Variable
These are just approximations, and your individual recovery time may be faster or slower. Shoulder injury and tennis elbow often fall into the tendon injury category, with healing times of 8-12 weeks.
We use various techniques to help you recover from injuries, including:
Physical therapy: This can help to improve flexibility, strength, and range of motion.
Shockwave therapy: This is a type of therapy that uses sound waves to promote healing.
Other targeted therapies: We offer a variety of other therapies to help you recover faster, such as massage and acupuncture.
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Surgical Intervention
Sometimes, surgery is necessary to repair sports injuries. This is typically the case for ligament or tendon ruptures, unstable fractures, or severe joint damage. Here at Balgowlah Sports Injury and Physiotherapy, we can assess your injury and refer you to a qualified surgeon if needed. We will work collaboratively with your surgeon throughout your pre- and post-operative rehabilitation.
Don't Let Pain Sideline You!
Sometimes, surgery is necessary to repair sports injuries. This is typically the case for ligament or tendon ruptures, unstable fractures, or severe joint damage. Here at Balgowlah Sports Injury and Physiotherapy, we can assess your injury and refer you to a qualified surgeon if needed. We will work collaboratively with your surgeon throughout your pre- and post-operative rehabilitation.
Book an Appointment Today and get expert treatment for your sports injury.