Sports Injury
Get over that sports injury and back on the pitch
Having a sports injury can be frustrating, daunting and may feel very lonely, especially when you have to stop doing what you enjoy.
Some of these injuries can be acute/traumatic or can be aggravated over a longer period of time. A lot of the time these are recurring injuries and you may feel like you are stuck in a vicious cycle of resting, gradually returning back to sports and suddenly re-injuring. At Head2Toe our priority is finding the root cause of your pain and guiding you in your recovery with specific, individualised rehabilitation!
What type of sports injury do you have?
Over the years we have seen plenty of acute and chronic, sports injuries. Whether it’s people coming down from the gym, out of the pool or hobbling off the 5-a-side football courts. We see strained and torn muscles, rolled ankles and even, sadly, a few snapped Achilles tendon. What injury have you picked up?
Shin Splints
Shin splints causes pain in the shinbone after overloading or overusing your muscles, tendon or shin bone itself. It is most common in runners or gymnasts.
Achilles Tendinopathy
Any damage to a tendon is referred to as a tendinopathy. The Achilles tendon attaches your calf muscles to your heelbone and any overuse or chronic stress can cause a tendinopathy
Ankle Sprains
Ankle sprains occur when the ligaments supporting your ankle are overstretched. This is very common in sports where quick changes in direction are needed.
Patella Issues
Pain, popping or grinding in your knee can be a sign of patella tracking issues. Any major stress placed on the knee when twisting or changing in direction can cause aggravation.
Tennis / Golfers Elbow
Tennis and Golfers elbow are both caused by an overuse to the tendon that originate at the elbow joint, with tennis elbow to the lateral aspect and Golfers elbow to the medial aspect. This can cause pain when gripping and can be painful to touch.
Treatments we recommend for a sports injury
Your Head2Toe Physio will carry out a thorough assessment, looking at what you can do, what you can’t do and whether there’s anything that should be of greater concern. Most sports injuries will resolve if dealt with sensibly. A combination of exercise therapy and manual therapy often proves helpful. Combined with a little education on what’s happening and why, things can often improve pretty quickly.
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Our frequently asked questions about a sports injury?
At Head2Toe Physiotherapy, we see hundreds of sports injuries every month. The most common sports injuries include sprains, strains, fractures, dislocations, and overuse injuries such as tendinitis and bursitis.
We see amateur netball, football and hockey players to national swimmers and international athletes. We treat patients of every age, and who have sustained injuries in just about every sport you can think of. From sore knees fencing, knee pain showjumping, broken collar bones mountain biking, hip pain scuba diving to back injuries sustained on a trampoline. We’ve even seen a patient with an elbow injury throwing darts!
At Head2Toe Physio, our physiotherapists will perform a thorough assessment. They will take a medical history and listen to what your problem is, how long it’s been there and what makes it better and worse. They’ll perform a physical examination.
For sporting patients, they might examine any videos or pictures of your sporting technique. For those with pain on running, they will likely watch you running to see if anything in your gait pattern might be contributing to your pain.
For those with diagnostic imaging (such as X-rays or MRIs), we will go through your scan reports with you and try to determine the underlying cause of your sports injury.
Sports injuries can be caused by a number of factors, including:
- Overuse
- Poor technique
- Lack of warm-up
- Fatigue
- Equipment failure
- Accidents
Our Head2Toe Physios have a range of treatment options for sports injuries, that may include manual therapy, exercise therapy, electrotherapy, education on posture and ergonomics, and modalities such as ultrasound or TENS.
We will work with you, and if you have one, your sports coach, to develop a personalized treatment plan based on your specific needs and goals.
It really depends on the type and severity of your sports injury. Some injuries may require rest to heal initially, while others may benefit from gentle exercise or rehabilitation straight away.
Our physiotherapists will help develop a personalized treatment plan based on your specific needs and goals.
Our Head2Toe physiotherapists will provide guidance on safe and appropriate exercises that can help you maintain your fitness while you recover. We may also recommend modifications to your workout routine or suggest alternative activities that are less likely to aggravate your injury.
You’ll be pleased to hear that you can get your sports injury treated at any of our 3 clinics in Surrey and West Sussex.
At Dorking and Leatherhead, our clinics are based in sports centres with fantastic access to gym facilities and ample room to get you back up to full fitness. At Crawley, we have a modern physio clinic with our own rehab studio, all set to return you to your chosen sport as quickly and effectively as possible.