Treatments Of Sports Or Exercise Injury: When there is swelling and inflammation in the injured area that follows an injury, it is largely due to the leakage of blood from the ruptured capillaries.
- Cold applications with ice can help by causing the blood vessels to clamp down. This constricts the blood vessel preventing further leakage of blood and serum.The ice helps to minimize the pain and swelling.
- The injured part of the body needs complete rest and time to heal. Minimize the movement of the injured part as much as possible to help quick healing.
- Raise the injured part up so that the pressure from the blood and the swelling reduces as the fluid is drawn away from the injured area due to gravity.
Both cold and hot therapy treatment have been used for sports injuries and both have their role in rehabilitation.
Benefits Of Cold Pack:
Cold pack are usually used on fresh injuries, helping the swelling and pain to minimize. Cold packs should be applied to the injured areas as many times possible in a day and should not be applied directly over the body, but wrapped around a towel or cloth before application. Cold packs reduce inflammation, it numbs the pain, decreases blood flow to the area and decreases muscle spasms.
Benefits Of Hot Pack:
Hot compression is put on areas when the injuries are old and long term, including muscle tightness and tension. Heat therapy is good to relax the muscles and cure it of pain. It should be applied several times a day for not more than 15 minutes at a time. Heat therapy can be administered through moist warm towels, microwave heating packs or electric heating bags. A water bag does help a lot. While using a heating pad, be careful and don’t fall asleep as this can further lead to serious injury. It reduces joint stiffness, repairs tissue and increases flexibility.
Prevention Of Injuries:
- You should be in proper physical condition to play sports. You have to train and master the technique of the sport that you are playing, don’t expect it to get you into shape without knowing it. Many injuries can be prevented by following a program of exercises designed specifically for that sport.
- Follow the rules and regulations of the sport you are playing. It is extremely important to follow the conduct of the game, so know them and follow them.
- Wear protective gear and equipment like protective pads, helmets, gloves, mouth guards and shin guards, etc. Never try to play without your safety gear, that will protect you from getting hurt.
- It is good to exercise but many athletes think that the more they train, they will get much better which is a misconception. Rest during exercise is a necessity, it can make you stronger, prevents fatigue and poor judgement.
- A warm up session will do you good, start slowly and mentally try to rehearse your upcoming activity.
- Everyone gets tired at one point of time. Do not play when you are tired or in pain, your body requires rest and when the alarm bells ring, then its time to pay attention to the warning signs as playing when you are tired can cause a careless injury.