Minor sports injuries

We have a passion at YMYB for activity. An active body is, generally speaking, a healthy body. We consider a minor sports injury to be anything which doesn't require you to be hospitalised or operated on. Pretty much anything else you experience in training or during competition we can help you recover from. This may mean treatment, or rehabilitation.

In this article we discuss:

• sports injury ligament sprains and muscle strains
• sports concussion
• sports we have experience in
• sports therapy and chiropractic

If you are suffering with a sports injury, our qualified chiropractors are ready to help you right now: 

Sports injury ligament sprains and muscle strains

A vast majority of minor sports injuries will be sprains and strains. These are graded on their severity with grade 1 being the least severe and grade 3 being the most severe. Whilst grade 1 may be referred to as "mild", that doesn't mean they won't hurt, because they will, these are still an injury. Whether talking about a sprain (ligament) or strain (muscle/tendon), these injuries involve a certain amount of tearing of fibres that make up the tissue. Imagine a bundle of microscopic elastic bands holding everything together and a number of these snapping. Even a small amount will cause you pain and make you want to protect the area. Remember, pain has a purpose, to stop you from damaging anything anymore than it already is.

Typically, we won't see a grade 3 in clinic. We will only really see these when working with athletes or amateur sports enthusiasts on their field of play. This is because these involve a complete rupture of whichever muscle, tendon or ligament is involved. There will be a lot of swelling, bruising, instability and possibly bunching up of the muscle tissue - you can imagine anyone with these will head straight to A&E.

Grade 1 and 2 however, respond well to a POLICE approach and treatment. Protection, Optimal Loading, Ice, Compression, Elevation. As sports chiropractors we are trained to help you understand what protection is required and how best to load the affected body part to help it heal the most efficiently. Chiropractic treatment of the associated tissues still in tact can help you feel more comfortable and support the affected structure better.

Sports concussion

Concussion is a complicated topic and it's always wise to seek a professional opinion. Because of their frequency in sport they can often  get downplayed or dismissed as "just" a concussion. Because of this, there has been discussion around reclassifying them as a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) because this is exactly what they are. Even minor repeated concussions can have lasting consequences which may not be immediately obvious.

If there are any issues around focus/concentration, memory or coordination then it is incredibly important to avoid any further sport until these symptoms have completely disappeared. Headaches are common and need to have resolved as well before considering returning to sport. When returning, it is important it is not straight back into the same level but gradual return with some basic drills building up over a week to normal training, ensuring no symptoms return during this time.

Rehabilitation can be incredibly useful in returning to full function after concussion. Identifying exactly how the symptoms manifest and structuring training around building these skills up is so important. This could be something obvious like coordination or balance involved in the sport you play or it could feel completely removed and involve training around memory or eye movement and focus. These skills are just as important in recovery and return to full function and sports chiropractors have extra training to handle these issues.

Sports we have experience in

We have experience in treating injuries from the following sports:

• Cycling
• Football
• Golf
• Horse riding
• Kayaking*
• Martial Arts*
• Rugby
• Running (road/trail/obstacle)*
• Swimming
• Skydiving*

*Our chiropractor has specific experience of being involved in these sports and can provide extra insight into avoiding injury and rehabiliation.

Sports therapy and chiropractic

There is considerable cross over with sports therapy and chiropractic. As chiropractors with a specific interest in sports and further training in that field you can rest assured we know what we are doing. The level of training required to graduate as a chiropractor in the first place allows us to provide recognised diagnosis of your condition and then the best care, attention and, if required, referral to an appropriate medical professional. For those of you who are really keen on returning to your sport at the same level or better, having a good understanding of recovering from your injury and then rehabiliation to strengthen and prevent future injury is going to be incredibly useful.

Our goal is to have you back to doing what you love as soon as possible, we know and understand the frustration of not being able to take part.

If you want to get back to your sport as soon as possible, call us on 01264 527001 or find a time to see us here: