Sports Injuries Daily Self Treatments

Sports Injuries treatment with heat therapy and cold packs

People who exercise vigorously run the risk of injuring their muscles and ligaments. Common sport injuries include pulled muscles and sprains. Such injuries are especially prevalent when people begin to exercise after long periods of inactivity.

When forcing a muscle during exercise, especially if the activity is unfamiliar, the muscle may over-stretch and some fibers may tear. These soft tissue injuries are called strains (involving muscles or tendons), or sprains (involving ligaments). Here we will be talking about how you can treat your injuries and some things that are common treatments that have potentail to cause as much harm as good.
This results in a pulled muscle. or ligaments. When the injury occurs, the main symptom is pain. Afterwards, the pulled muscle feels tender and may become swollen.

Similarly, ligaments may tear if a joint is stressed excessively. A sprain can occur in any joint, but the knees, ankles, and fingers are especially susceptible to such tears. The level of pain depends on the extent of the injury, and swelling and skin discoloration are likely to occur.

Treatment for Sports Injuries

The aim of treatment is to reduce pain and swelling while helping the natural healing process. During the acute phase, treatment usually includes rest, ice, compression, and elevation. The treatment should begin within a few minutes of the injury. In any case, the sooner the treatment begins, the more effective it will be. Following are some general guidelines on how to treat sports injuries; for details about frequency and duration you may want to consult a medical professional.

Stop the sport activity and rest.
Apply ice or cold compress to the injured area.

The most common approach to icing an injury is to use ice. There are concerns with using ice. Of course it can be messy, most approaches are subject to leaks. If this was the only concern a bag of frozen peas or other non liquid would be a good choice. A more serious issue is the potential of tissue damage and in a worse case the creation of frostbite. The use of flaxseed or mircobead cold packs is often a better approach with less opportunity for creating a mess or adding to the damage already done.

Between ice treatments, use a bandage for compression.

Make sure the bandage is not too tight, and take it off every couple of hours to check for swelling and to re-apply ice.

In addition, keep the injured area elevated as much as possible to decrease the throbbing pain and the swelling. After the acute phase (e.g., after there has been no increase in swelling for 24 hours).

Heat Therapy

Therapeutic heat can help the healing process. Moist heat increases the circulation in the injured area. This increase in blood flow brings in fresh oxygen, takes away waste, and speeds up recovery.

For heat therapy, the standard comfort pack and herbal buddies are ideal for the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. The Hand cozy is designed for hand injuries, and the backpack and lumbar pack is suited for larger areas such as the back. For most effective treatment, build up heat quickly and maintain the heat as high as you are able to tolerate. Continue the treatment for 15 - 30 minutes.

Using either hot or cold caution should be used, if you have insensitive skin or poor circulation.