Spring is here and everyone is eager to get outside and enjoy our favorite sports again. This also means that many of us are out of practice from taking the winter off. Here are some of the most common sports spring injuries and how to prevent them!
Strains and Sprains
The reason why stretching and warming up is always recommended — strains and sprains are common year-round but especially when doing activities or playing sports you haven’t done in a while. Sprains occur when ligaments or muscles become stretched and torn. Similarly, when tendons face the same damage, you are risking a strain. Depending on how severe your injury is, your body may react with swelling, bruising, and generalized lack of mobility due to pain. Common ways to treat a spring injury like a sprain or strain include the steps of the R.I.C.E approach— rest, ice, compression, and elevation.
Herniated Disks
Affecting everyone from golfers to football players and your average Sunday driver, a herniated disk occurs when a tear in your vertebrae discs allows the gelatinous material inside to leak out, leading to a bulging or herniated disk pressing against your nerves and causing local or radiating pain and reduced range of motion. Moving properly without warming up and executing bending exercises or incurring trauma from a tackle or even a car accident can cause you pain for a long time. Thankfully, one of the most popular ways to treat herniated disks includes the help of an established and proficient chiropractor. At Gilroy Family Chiropractic, we’re prepared to help you through any sports injury in any season!
Spring Injuries – Stress Fractures
Unlike a full fracture from a serious accident, a stress fracture happens over time. Small breaks in weight-bearing bones like your fibula and tibia—the bones that make up your leg below the knee—appear over time from continuous impacts common in sports such as running and jumping. When starting a new workout regiment preparing for your new sports season or getting out and hiking, running, or playing with your friends, be sure to stretch and warm up properly as well as make slow changes to give your body time to adapt to your new exercise habits.
