sports injury

• Protection:  During the first few days after an injury, you should certainly rest the injured joint, ligament, or muscle.  After a few days, gentle motion can be started while you still maintain a level of protection for the injured area.  During this time you may require some sort of assistive device, like crutches, to walk.
• Optimum Loading:  While you are protecting your injured body part, gentle motion can, and should, be started. This progressive loading of your injury can help promote optimal healing of the injury, and it can prevent delays in returning to normal due to joint and muscle tightness or muscle atrophy.
• Ice: Applying ice may help to manage injured muscle or joint, and ice can help decrease some of the acute pain that you may be experiencing.
• Compression:  While applying ice, compression can be added using an ACE bandage.  You can also use a product like Ice Tape to cool and compress the injury.
• Elevation:  Elevation is simple for some body parts.  An injured ankle or knee can be placed on a stack of pillows while you are lying down.  An injury to your elbow or wrist requires that you elevate your entire arm on something. 
  

The POLICE principle is a simple method to try after acute injury  For example, a shoulder injury may require the use of a sling initially, and a knee ligament injury may require a brace during the initial healing phases.

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Our Chartered Physiotherapists can help diagnose your symptoms and have you back on the road to recovery in no time