Treatment

Sports injury management

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Sports injury management

When it comes to sports injury management, most people are familiar with the old acronym RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) for soft tissue injury management, but what is the evidence for it, and can we do better?

Complete rest is rarely necessary following simple soft tissue injuries. For example, following a simple ankle sprain, a person who continues to move the ankle and weight bear as tolerated will have accelerated recovery compared to someone who avoids weight bearing and keeps the ankle still.

Ice is often used immediately following a soft tissue injury. Ice does not reduce swelling. If applied correctly, ice can reduce the temperature of surrounding tissues enough to reduce the nerve’s ability to carry information back to the brain, thereby reducing pain. Unfortunately, ice can interrupt the natural inflammatory response following an injury and possibly delay the healing response. The consensus is: only ice following an injury if the pain is intolerable – then ice it properly by making a bag of crushed ice and water.

The new recommended acronym for soft tissue injury management. PEACE (Protect, Elevate, Avoid anti-inflammatories, Compress and Educate) refers to the steps immediately following injury. In the next few days, the injury needs a bit of LOVE (Load, Optimism, Vascularisation and Exercise). For more information on how to best manage your injury, contact us on 49216879 or admin@numoves.com.au

For the full article visit the BJSM editorial: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/2/72

Thoracic pain

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thoracic pain

The thoracic spine is your mid back between lower back and neck. Each of the 12 vertebrae of your thoracic spine has a rib on each side. Acute thoracic spine pain can be very debilitating. When it hurts to breathe the joints between the ribs and the thoracic vertebral body and transverse process can be the source. Postural loading and stress are common causes of this type of pain. Another is trauma in sport, but you also need to make sure there are no rib or other fractures in these cases.

Simple analgesics are usually advised at first. Sometimes taping can limit the pain by restricting painful movement when pain is bad but shouldn’t be used for more than a few days. The next step is to get moving via walking in water or on land followed by stretches. At this stage massage and joint mobilisations can improve your overall movement and increase the speed of your recovery.

Get good advice early is the quickest way to get back to normal once you have acute thoracic pain. This also includes analysis of the causes and implementing movement-based prevention strategies. Read more here on how we can help or contact us on 4921 6879.

Physiotherapy massage and manual treatment

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We frequently get asked the question, “Do we do massage?”

NU Moves physiotherapists use manual therapy within most of our treatments. But what is manual therapy? Manual therapy includes massage, joint mobilisation, joint manipulation, and myofascial stretching. The appropriate treatment will be used after careful assessment. These are skilled, specific hands-on techniques that can all be effectively used to assist recovery, prevent injury, help keep you active, and make you feel better.

massage

1. Sports Massage

This massage is for the active individual who is seeking to maintain and optimise their physical potential. The purpose of this massage is to alleviate tension which builds up in the body’s soft tissues during physical activity. Sports massage can prepare you for sport and assist in your recover after sport. However, it is best used as a preventative treatment to control muscle tension and prevent injury.

 2. Deep Tissue Massage

This massage focuses on the deeper layers of muscle tissue. The aim of this massage is to release patterns of tension in the muscles with slow deep strokes through the muscle fibres. A deep tissue massage will loosen muscle tissue, release toxins from the muscles, and assist blood and oxygen to circulate properly.

3. Soft Tissue Massage

This massage involves light to medium pressure aimed at relieving general muscular aches and pain, soreness and tension. It provides the benefits of massage while retaining a relaxing essence.

Book in for a physiotherapy session and discuss manual therapy and massage with your physio. Often a combination of joint and muscle treatments are required to get you moving better and feeling better. The depth of the massage varies to the tolerance and goals of the individual.

Call us at 4921 6879 to book an appointment.