STRAINS, SPRAINS AND DOUBLE SESSIONS ¦ OH MY - Blog

[Guest Prosoft Admin]

It’s that time again. Those nearly unbearable sunny humid August days of double session practices. The excitement for Fall sports season. The mental and physical fatigue that follows sometimes grueling 4 hour or longer practices over the day. Anticipation of fulfilling all the dreams conjured up in the off-season of the individual and team successes every athlete and coach imagines themself into. It’s a clean slate – a fresh start, regardless of how last season or the last sport went. There’s something unique and special about the seeming newness of Fall sports season as a new school year sneaks up again.

 

One thing can put a BIG GLITCH in those plans though: INJURY!

 

Ugh. Just like those first practices that reinforced the excitement of a new season the intro to this blog crashes to a halt with that word….INJURY.

 

The real question is what do you do with it. When the big ones happen it’s a no brainer. The coach, the other players, maybe even the school’s ATC all know the truth…you got hurt. The wheels immediately get set into motion and care choices are being made. But what happens to those other athletes who are noticing more subtle problems, or maybe they’ve been dealing with them for a while now …and double sessions are escalting things just a bit, or maybe a whole lot!

 

For some, the fears of being pulled completely from playing cause them to go into denial over there even being any problem. For others it becomes a more conscious decision to essentially lie about their status…or at least “avoid all the details” about how they’re feeling.

 

“But I might lose my starting position”
“The team needs me”
“I’m a captain”
“I can beat her out for a starting spot”
“I won’t make the team if I don’t just keep playing”
“My Dad will be mad at me if I let this injury stop me from playing”
“The coach already said I should stop complaining when I said my knee hurt”
“It doesn’t hurt that bad”
“It just hurts, it’s not really ‘painful’ ”
“I’m ok if I ice a lot and take some Advil”
“The coach will think I’m a wimp”

 

We’ve heard those and more. Each athlete has their own sometimes unique scenario of imagined and often even real conversations with themselves, coaches, their teammates, and even their parents that lead them to fear telling the truth about their injury. Maybe for some it’s like a badge of honor. Toughing it out through their injury to valiantly “take one for the team” and forge onward.

 

The unfortunate truth is that still others end up going back to practice or the game, knowing inside that they aren’t feeling well – and certainly aren’t anywhere really, truly close to normal, and play themselves right into a major injury. A severe ankle sprain requiring a cast or a walking boot. Welcome to 4-6 weeks out of your sport – at least. Welcome to an ACL tear – say hello to the bench for the rest of the season and next…it’ll be 6-9 months at least before you’re back playing sports again. Welcome to that shoulder fully dislocated now – time for a sling, or maybe surgery – 3-4 weeks before you’re playing again or maybe a few seasons.

 

Little niks and naks will happen. Even really subtle minor strains and sprains happen – a little soreness…something feels like it got tweaked. But the real key is that in the next few days it gradually disappears and things are fine. When symptoms linger for a week or keep recurring for weeks and months then it’s clearly time to be seen and get some help.

 

DIRECT ACCESS in New York State allows someone to go directly to a Physical Therapist for injury care. PTs need to have three year’s experience and after 30 days a Physician must be involved if continued care is needed. While the law didn’t mandate insurers to honor the law and pay for Direct Access PT services, the fact is that the great majority do consider it a covered service.

 

No more being frustrated that you’re not sure if there’s more you could be doing to speed up the process. No waiting for a week of rest, a bout on medications, and plain film X-rays to be done and show nothing before a proactive approach of seeing a skilled Physical Therapist is suggested.

 

I just recently saw a sophomore athlete with knee pain two weeks before double sessions are starting and they reported having 4-5 years of knee pain. Ouch! Four to five years? Really. That means it started back in 6th grade…and throughout year round sports now for 4-5 years this 11, 12, 13, 14, and now 15 year old has been having painful knees. Wow. Perseverance – certainly. Dedication – absolutely. Mental toughness – oh yes. Best way to handle the injury, help it recover and get back to normal, optimize performance and have successful seasons….and prepare for a possible college career? Probably not.

 

I”m really glad for this young athlete that they chose to humble themselves and come in and let me help get things back on track. I’ll bet they’re wishing they’d done so a lot sooner! The good news is significant improvements are already happening, even after only two weeks or so with a 4-5 year history of issues….and it’ll be that much easier to head into the season now!

 

The Physical Therapsts at PEAK PERFORMANCE are ready to assist you back to Fall sports at your best and as quickly as possible. Give us a call at 218-0240.