Sports Injury Physiotherapy

The most commonly treated injuries addressed by physiotherapy include:

• Runner’s knee- is a term used to refer to a number of medical conditions that cause pain around the front of the knee (patellofemoral pain). These conditions include anterior knee pain syndrome, patellofemoral malalignment, and chondromalacia patella.
• Tendonitis- Inflammation of a tendon due to overuse such as your Achilles tendon in your heel.
• Plantar fasciitis – is a painful inflammatory process of the plantar fascia, the connective tissue known as fascia or ligament on the sole (bottom surface) of the foot. It is often caused by: overuse, increases in activities, weight or age.
• Golfers Elbow- or medial epicondylitis, is a painful condition of the elbow caused by overuse. Inflammation of the tendons that join the forearm muscles on the inside of the elbow. The forearm muscles and tendons become damaged from overuse — repeating the same motions again and again. This leads to pain and tenderness on the inside of the elbow.
• Tennis elbow- or lateral epicondylitis, is a painful condition of the elbow caused by overuse. Inflammation of the tendons that join the forearm muscles on the outside of the elbow. The forearm muscles and tendons become damaged from overuse — repeating the same motions again and again. This leads to pain and tenderness on the outside of the elbow.

Traumatic injuries account for most injuries in contact sports such as Hockey, football, lacrosse and rugby because of the high incidence of impact in these sports. Collisions with the ground, objects (such as hockey and lacrosse sticks) and other players are common, unexpected dynamic forces on limbs and joints can cause injury.

Traumatic injuries can include:

• Bone fracture
• Contusion or bruise – damage to small blood vessels which causes bleeding within the tissues.
• Muscle Strain – trauma to a muscle due to overstretching and tearing of muscle fibers
• Ligament Sprain – an injury in a joint, caused by the ligament being stretched or torn.
• Wound – abrasion or puncture of the skin
• Head injury
• Spinal cord injury

Catastrophic Injury is defined as severe trauma to the human head, spine, or brain. Concussions have recently become a growing concern in North America due to the aforementioned contact sports.

RICE: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation.

Rest: the period of rest should be long enough that you are able to use the affected limb with the majority of function restored and pain essentially gone.

Ice:  A good method is ice to ice the affected are 20 minutes of each hour or alternation of ice on and off for 20 minutes each, for a 24–48 hour period.

Compression: Compression aims to reduce swelling that results from the inflammatory process the occurs when you tear or sprain a ligament or muscle. It should fit snug so as to not move freely, but still allow expansion for when muscles contract and fill with blood.

Elevation: aims to reduce edema by increasing venous return of blood to the systemic circulation. This will result in less swelling which reduces pain.