No one wants to get injured while playing their favourite sport, whether as a professional athlete or for fun. Unfortunately, our bodies often have a different idea, whether the injury is due to repetitive movement, sudden impact, wear and tear, or simply because we move in the wrong way.
If you’re an active person, you will likely experience a sports injury at some point. What that injury is may depend on the sport.
The challenge is learning how to avoid sports injuries as much as possible or, if you are injured, how to recover quickly and effectively so that you can return to your favourite activities.
What are some of the most common sports injuries, and how can sports injury physiotherapy aid with recovery and prevention? Let’s take a look.
1. Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) Tear
The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is one of four ligaments (strong bands of tough, fibrous connective tissue) that stabilise the knee. The ACL joins your thigh bone (femur) to the front of your shin bone (tibia) and stops those bones from moving out of place.
The ACL is useful not only for making pivoting movements but also for supporting you when you walk up and down hills or stairs.
Due to the function of the ACL, it’s particularly prone to injury if you rapidly change direction, stop suddenly, fall or twist your leg, land from a jump incorrectly, or directly collide with someone.
It is little wonder that there are many sports that are associated with ACL injuries and tears: football, basketball, baseball, rugby, hockey, skiing – the list goes on.
It’s possible that you have an ACL tear if you:
- Hear a popping sound at the time the injury occurs
- Feel your knee give out from under you
- Find that you cannot move or extend your leg fully
- Feel joint tenderness
- Experience discomfort while walking
- Feel pain with some swelling
Less commonly, some people do experience an ACL strain (usually due to overstretching), but the most common ACL injuries are partial or complete tears.
How physiotherapy can help heal an ACL tear
If you experience an ACL tear, physiotherapy can help speed up your recovery.
During your initial assessment, the physiotherapist will evaluate the extent of the injury to create a targeted rehabilitation plan. This will detail the stages of recovery and their aims, from reducing swelling and pain to restoring your range of motion, strength, and stability.
Your physiotherapist may recommend exercises that you can do at home, such as knee straightening and knee bends, quad sets, leg raises, lunges, and balance training. It’s important to get the correct advice about which exercises to do at each stage of your recovery to ensure that you’re supporting the healing process rather than causing further injury.
In addition, your physiotherapist can use manual techniques that place targeted pressure on your soft tissue and bones to help reduce scar tissue formation and improve your joint mobility.
2. Sprained Ankle
A sprained ankle is an injury that occurs when the ligaments in the ankle are overstretched or torn. This is a common injury that results from rolling, twisting, or turning the ankle in some way, often during sports.
Ankle sprains are usually graded from 1 (mild) to 2 (moderate) or 3 (severe). This helps a medical professional, such as a physiotherapist, assess the level of damage, whether your ankle is weight-bearing, whether immobilisation with a cast is necessary, the likely recovery period, and even whether the injury might require surgery.
If you experience the following symptoms, you may have an ankle sprain:
- swelling and bruising
- pain
- mild heat and redness
- loss of movement and strength around the ankle and foot
- difficulty walking or going up or down stairs
- tingling, numbness, or pins and needles in the affected area
How physiotherapy can help heal an ankle sprain
Google ‘ankle sprains’ and a surprising number of articles still recommend the RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) method as the immediate treatment option. However, this is outdated advice, as applying ice to a soft tissue injury can slow down the healing response.
The most recent mnemonic to remember at the point of injury is PEACE & LOVE (Protection, Elevation, Avoid Anti-Inflammatories, Compression, Education & Load, Optimism, Vascularisation, Exercise).
To avoid confusion, a physiotherapist can give you a treatment plan to heal your ankle sprain and return to your chosen sport. They will know which treatment methods are appropriate as well as what to avoid.
You may be given exercises such as ankle circles, resistance band exercises, and calf raises to do at home to help restore your ankle stability and prevent future strains.
Also, methods such as proprioception training (such as standing on one foot or using a balance board to retrain your ankle muscles) may help with your recovery.
3. Tennis Elbow (Lateral Epicondylitis)
Tennis elbow is a condition that causes pain around the outside of the elbow. It is an overuse injury caused by repetitive motion and happens when the tendons around your elbow become inflamed,
As the name suggests, it’s a common injury for tennis players and those enjoying other racquet sports, but it can also be caused by computer work (lots of typing), manual tasks such as using a screwdriver or sewing machine, or activities such as playing a musical instrument – any activity that involves gripping and repeatedly twisting your wrist and forearm.
The main symptom of tennis elbow is pain on the outside of your elbow. At first, you might experience mild discomfort, but it can progress to constant pain that impacts your sleep. If you have tennis elbow, you might notice that it feels worse when you bend your arm, grip an object, lift something, or move your wrist.
In addition to pain, you may experience some tenderness or swelling in your elbow, difficulty straightening the affected arm, and pain in your forearm.
How physiotherapy can help heal tennis elbow
There are various physiotherapy techniques that can help heal tennis elbow. Ultrasound therapy and massage can both help to reduce pain and inflammation.
Your physiotherapist is also likely to recommend exercises such as wrist extensors stretches, eccentric wrist curls, and grip strengthening.
Depending on what activity or action caused your tennis elbow, your physiotherapist can give you advice about correcting your technique or equipment use to prevent the injury from reoccurring. This is great for peace of mind when you return to your favourite sport or pastime.
4. Rotator Cuff Injuries
The rotator cuff is a group of muscles and tendons that keep the top of your upper arm bone firmly in the socket of the shoulder. Rotator cuff injuries are more common as we age, but they can also be caused by repetitive overhead motions in sports such as swimming, tennis, and baseball.
Symptoms of a rotator cuff injury will typically include:
- Recurrent pain, especially with certain activities where you raise your arms
- Pain that prevents you from sleeping on your injured side
- Grating or cracking sounds when moving your arm
- Limited ability to move your arm
- Muscle weakness
The symptoms of a rotator cuff injury may be similar to those of other conditions or medical problems, so it’s important to get professional advice, especially if the pain is ongoing.
How physiotherapy can help heal tennis elbow
A physiotherapist can help assess the extent of a rotator cuff injury and identify specific muscles involved. They can then create a treatment plan for you that might include rest, ultrasound therapy, and more.
You may be given therapeutic exercises that you can perform at home to restore your shoulder function, such as pendulum exercises, isometric (static, muscle strengthening) shoulder exercises, and scapular stabilisation exercises.
By seeing a physiotherapist for this problem, you will also learn how to improve your posture and shoulder mechanics to avoid further strain.
5. Runner’s Knee (Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome)
Runner’s knee describes an injury that causes pain at the front of the knee or around the kneecap. This type of injury can be caused by excessive training or overuse, trauma, improper alignment, or muscle imbalances. As the name suggests, this injury is common in runners but it can also affect other athletes.
The most common symptoms of runner’s knee are:
- Pain in and around the kneecap, especially when you’re active
- Pain after sitting for a long time with the knees bent
- A rubbing, grinding, or clicking sound of the kneecap that you hear or feel when you bend and straighten your knee
- The kneecap is tender to the touch
How physiotherapy can help heal runner’s knee
It’s important that you have an individual treatment plan to help you recover from a runner’s knee injury, as it can be influenced by your age, weight, general health, activity levels, and helping you return to your favourite sport.
Techniques such as a compression knee wrap or taping can help support your knee, but you may also be given corrective exercises to strengthen your quadriceps (large muscles at the front of the thigh), hamstrings, and hip abductors. This can help to support your knee and better align the bones and muscles in your legs.
A physiotherapist can help assess your running form – here at Physio Box, we offer biomechanical assessments to support this – and recommend adjustments to reduce your knee strain. Some people benefit from orthotics, such as custom 3D printed insoles, to make sure their feet hit the ground correctly when walking or running. If alignment is correct from the ground up, this can make a huge difference in treating and preventing runner’s knee.
Physiotherapy for all sports injuries
Physiotherapy plays a vital role in sports injury recovery and includes many other types of sports injuries that we haven’t mentioned in this article.
If you’re given physiotherapy exercises and a treatment plan, it’s crucial that you follow through with them consistently. A physiotherapist can help you to do this and will be able to refine your plan throughout your recovery journey.
Try to listen to your body as much as possible; it has a lot to tell you! Pay attention to pain and work within the timeframe given to you by your physiotherapist when it comes to returning to your favourite sport. With the right guidance, you will hopefully be able to return to full fitness and prevent future problems from occurring.
Prevention is a huge part of physiotherapy. Warm-ups, stretching, strength training, correct alignment, and posture can all help you to avoid sports injuries and enjoy an active life for as long as possible.
Helping you feel and perform at your best
Whether you have experienced a sports injury, need help with injury prevention, or are returning to your favourite sport or activity after a break, sports physiotherapy can make a world of difference.
Our experienced team would be happy to discuss how it could help you personally and arrange a consultation.
