Prevention & Rehabilitation

Stretching, Warming-Up, & Cooling Down

While it may be tempting to skip stretching and warming up due to inconvenience or time consumption, warming up and cooling down is imperative when it comes to pain prevention and sports injury prevention!

Warm-up strategies incorporating stretching, strengthening and balance exercises, sports-specific agility drills and landing techniques are recommended.

There are two different categories of stretching:

 Dynamic Stretching vs. Static Stretching

• Dynamic Stretching: "active movements that send muscles and joints through their full range of motion. The goal of dynamic stretching is to increase muscle temperature and reduce stiffness to improve performance and prevent injury" (ATIPT, 2021). Think of it like going through the motions.

• Static Stretching: Stretching in which a specific position is held for a certain amount of time ranging from a few seconds to minutes

• It is recommended to complete dynamic stretching before exercising and static stretching afterwards. This is because static stretching beforehand may decrease performance by fatiguing muscles and overstretching joints.

• Static stretches are recommended post-workout because we are "more flexible after exercise, [since] you've increased the circulation to those muscles and joints" (Collins, 2014). At this point of the workout, they will provide the most benefit!

ATI Physical Therapy provides great examples of both static and dynamic stretching! 

The ACSM provides more research-based guidelines for proper stretching and flexibility.

Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, & Chiropractic Medicine

These services can be very useful for the prevention and rehabilitation of injuries as well as simply maintaining range of motion and strength. They can also be beneficial for those with disabilities!

“More than 3.5 million children and teens are injured each year as part of organized sports or physical activity. In fact, one-third of all injuries in children are sports-related” (ProFysio Physical Therapy, 2020).

Physical Therapy

• When going to a physical therapist, one typically gets a referral from their physician. This can occur with or without surgery having been done upon the patient.
• The physical therapist will perform a physical examination and may measure ranges of motion of the target areas. Then, a treatment plan may be formed consisting of different exercises, stretches, equipment, etc.
• "The goal is to restore functionality by improving movement and increasing motion range in specific body areas" (WebMD Editorial Contributors, 2021).

Physical Therapy vs. Occupational Therapy

• The difference is that physical therapy is focused on the body and its movement while the latter focuses on getting back to independently performing activities of daily living
• OT can be used especially when a sports injury gets in the way of one’s ability to perform everyday functions by themselves.

Chiropractic Medicine

• Chiropractors treat and can help prevent injuries and are trained in the "manual adjustment of the spine, ensuring that bones are lined up and balanced, which helps relieve tension in the body. This allows the body to function better and become less susceptible to injury" (Premier Orthopaedics, 2014).
• "The goal of most chiropractic techniques is to restore or enhance joint function while resolving joint inflammation and reducing pain" (Premier Orthopaedics, 2014). 

Surgery & Post-Surgical Life

“Surgery can usually be used to repair damaged soft tissue, align bones and re-position joints” (Sports Medicine Information, 2009).

Surgery may be recommended in cases which "tissues lack a healing blood supply, when their normal function prevents proper healing, and when they cannot be protected well enough and long enough to fully heal, surgery becomes necessary to restore full function" (The Orthopedic Institute, 2021). Not only is surgery important for returning to one's sport, but to regaining ability to perform daily activities.

"Common surgical procedures in sport include repair to damaged cartilage and ligaments in the knee (especially cruciate ligament tears), AC shoulder injuries, dislocations and tendonitis" (Sports Medicine Information, 2009).

Length of recovery mostly depends on the nature and severity of the injury as well as how the surgery was done. All surgery requires recovery for the tissue to heal. Once healed enough, a physician may recommend a patient to attend physical therapy to recover range of motion, strength, balance, and to learn proper techniques to prevent further injury.

More dated techniques of surgery may have been more invasive, but many modern surgeries are arthroscopic, in which a much smaller incision can be made as a small camera is used to visualize the surgical site.

However, many patients may be hesitant in regards to surgery for many valid reasons. 

• Surgery can be very costly. When factoring in the surgery cost, possible therapy afterwards (physical or mental), time lost from work, etc., it is not always accessible to everyone, especially when they are not deemed medically necessary. This is especially true when one does not have insurance or their insurance does not cover the medical expenses.
• Surgery can be dangerous. The more invasive surgeries are, the higher the chances are of infection, even though they are more rare in the modern day. Surgeries requiring general anesthesia may also be considered dangerous as it may have undesirable side effects.
• Surgery is not always 100%. Sometimes surgeries do not work and it may take several to achieve the right results. Therefore, it is best to communicate with the physician or surgeon what the best plan is.
• Surgery takes both a physical and mental toll. It is evident that surgery can be very painful, especially once any painkillers wear off, therefore one may not want to go through the pain of recovery as it can seem worse than the pain they already have. Mental willingness to go through such an event as well as the mental toll that recovery can take are also very straining for someone.

There are many other courses of action such as corticosteroid injections and PRP treatments that a physician may recommend before surgery.

Speaking with a physician is the absolute best way to figure out what the right course of action is.