Pink Prescriptions: Sports Injuries
Sports are fun, challenging and empowering. Sports injuries are not! Learn more about how to avoid some of the most common sports injuries and play on.
Does stretching or warming up before or after a workout help prevent injury?
Yes, stretching and warming up before a workout is very important. Most people fail to implement a thorough stretching routine into their workout. As a result, you can become subject to straining or “pulling” muscles. Many of the patients and athletes that come in have tight and restricted muscles and are frequently hurting themselves during their exercise routine. This is due to the lack of proper stretching and warming up prior to their workouts. Furthermore, it is always important to stretch after an intense exercise routine, as well. -Dr. Anthony Mattis, Mattis Chiropractic Wellness Center
What is tennis elbow and how can it be prevented?
Tennis elbow is a common, but sometimes complex, soft tissue condition in the outer elbow. Tennis elbow usually causes pain in the elbow or forearm, and is worse with wrist movement or forceful gripping. Typically, tennis elbow is caused by overuse or repetitive microtrauma involving the wrist or forearm. Generally, it is a self-limiting condition, with resolution of symptoms within a year.
There is a variety of different treatment options available to assist in restoration of function, ranging from basic interventions, such as ice, medication and bracing, to more involved programs such as physical therapy or surgery.
The best course of avoiding a serious injury of any kind is to listen to your body. When something hurts, address it in the moment and modify motions provoking the pain. Specifically with tennis elbow, it is important to focus on flexibility and strength within the forearm. Another component is to pay attention to form and ergonomics with repetitive tasks, such as alternating your hands during activities or lifting with your palm facing up.
-Craig Dye, DPT, CM Sun City Clinic
Drayer Physical Therapy Institute
What steps can be taken to avoid knee or hip replacement?
The best way to avoid the operating table is to maintain an exercise program that strengthens the muscles controlling your hips and knees. I suggest something that’s low-impact like cycling, a stationary bike, elliptical trainer or aquatic exercises. With these kinds of exercises, there’s less wear and tear on your joints. Strengthening your joint muscles not only reduces your risk of injury, it will minimize the symptoms even if you have joint damage. It’s also important to maintain a normal weight. Obesity is one of the causes of wear and tear on joints.
If you start having problems, see an orthopedic doctor to help alleviate the pain with occasional steroid shots or viscosupplementation, a lubricant injected into knees and other arthritic joints. If that doesn’t work, you might get by with arthroscopy, an outpatient surgical procedure. Physical therapy also can be very helpful. The therapist can teach you appropriate exercises for the joints involved.
-Dr. Kevin Jones is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Beaufort Memorial Orthopedic Specialists.
Are knee and hip replacements usually due to injuries?
Injuries frequently cause damage to your cartilage, which can start the degenerative process leading to osteoarthritis—the most common form of arthritis. But there are many other risk factors for the condition, including age, deformities of the bone, obesity and genetics. In most cases, surgery is only recommended if other therapies have been ineffective or if one of the joints is severely damaged.
-Dr. Kevin Jones is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with Beaufort Memorial Orthopedic Specialists.
Tiger Woods’ back injury has me worried about my golf swing. What should I be
doing or are there preventative measures?
Based on what I can tell from the press reports Tiger Woods likely had a herniated disc that was pinching a nerve in his low back. This is a common problem in the general population and the good news is the majority (70% or more) of these type problems resolve without surgery. The discs in the spine can be injured with single events (i.e lifting a heavy box) or can be due to repetitive trauma, such as playing golf for many years. Many patients have years of on and off mild back pain and then have “an event” that significantly worsens the problem. Golf is a tremendous stress for the spine.
An important concept regarding prevention of golf related back pain is you should be “fit” for golf. I suggest engaging in fitness activities every day so that golf is a tolerated stress, rather than a negative stress, to the spine. Fitness involves strength, aerobic capacity and flexibility. The most important muscles to keep strong for golf include the core and the larger leg muscles (quads, hamstrings, glutes).
A great core exercise is simply to “sit strong” every hour, every day. Sitting strong involves keeping your head high, shoulders back, stomach held in and butt pushed out. Sit in that position, stand in that position and address the golf ball in that position.
Lastly, if you are a golfer and experience back pain it is important to address the problem, not the ball. You need to listen to your body. Pain is our protective response, and if ignored, the problem can get worse and be more difficult to treat. See a spine doctor and get a diagnosis and treatment plan that will safely get you back to par.
-John Batson, MD, Fellowship Trained and Board Certified in Spinal Management and Sports Medicine, Lowcountry Spine & Sport