Sports Injury Treatment & Prevention: How to Prevent Sports Injuries?

How to Prevent Sports Injuries?

One of the key ways to prevent a sports injury from happening is to do your homework! Before and after any strenuous activity there are steps to take to prevent excessive muscle soreness, pain, scar tissue buildup, muscle adhesions, and swelling. Taking care of things before they happen is the best recipe for success when challenging your body with activity! Over used muscles and soft tissue injuries can occur in three ways: 

Acute Conditions (pulls, tears, collision injuries)

An Accumulation of micro tears over time in the muscles

Not getting enough oxygen to the tissues

Each of these factors can cause your body to produce tough, dense scar tissue in the affected area. This scar tissue binds up and ties down tissues that need to move freely. As scar tissue builds up, muscles become shorter and weaker, tension on tendons causes tendonitis, and nerves can become trapped. This can cause reduced range of motion, loss of strength, and pain. If a nerve is trapped you may also feel tingling, numbness, and weakness. One of the most beneficial ways to take care of these types of issues is as follows:

Using a foam roller- this allows you, the patient at home to manually massage those affected areas and remove the scar tissue and adhesions which are causing you discomfort, trouble exercising, or pain.

Stretching- a dynamic or moving stretch should be done before activity and a static based stretch after any activity.

Seeing an ART Provider for Treatment-Every ART session is actually a combination of examination and treatment. The ART provider uses his or her hands to evaluate the texture, tightness and movement of muscles, fascia, tendons, ligaments and nerves. Abnormal tissues are treated by combining precisely directed tension with very specific patient movements.

Chiropractic Adjustments-This is done to correct misalignments in the spine and extremities that could be causing undo stress on the nerves and muscles that attach in these areas being manifested by pain and discomfort for you, the athlete.

As a certified ART provider and chiropractor, Dr. Jenna Cook specializes in keeping individuals healthy during any kind of activity and pain free.

For more information call SportCo Rehabilitation Oswego at 554-9991 or SportCo Rehabilitation Naperville at 922-6500 or find us on the web at www.sportco1.com