SuperFitness

Too Painful to Train

With severe training injuries you should let your doctor give you advice on treatment, rest, and the time needed before you can return to your exercise or sport program. When you can treat the injury yourself, you should first use the principles of the RICE rule. It is represented as:

R=rest
I=ice
C=compression
E=elevation

Use ice immediately after the injury. Ice reduces the blood flow and swelling from the actual injury. The reduced swelling often allows you to move the muscle or area with less pain. Initially, apply ice for three "ten minutes on, ten minutes off" cycles. Reapply ice every waking hour for the next 48 hours, or until the swelling stops. The ice can be chipped ice, in a pack, ice in water, or a moldable ice substitute like a bag of frozen green peas.

Wrapping the area to restrict the blood flow can help in the reduction of swelling and pain. You should use as wide a wrap as possible for the area affected, and be careful not to get the wrap too tight. Remove the wrap for five minutes every hour. The blood supply should not be cut off from the area, so watch for discoloration of the skin. Many professional trainers use a combination of ice and compression to quickly treat an injury.

Another possible treatment is elevation of the injury. This is particularly good when you try to go to sleep after an injury. Try to get the affected joint higher than the nearest joint closer to the heart. This will also reduce the blood flow and swelling of the area. This means, get an injured wrist above the elbow or a painful ankle above your hip joint.

Once you have followed these initial rules about treatments for the sports injury, you can add treatments that are specific to the individual injury. These treatments include heat, inflammation and pain medications, and stretching of the effected area. None of these treatments are as universal as those on the RICE list.

The use of heat is often tried because it feels good on the injury. Immediately after the injury, however, it will actually increase the swelling in the area. If your pain can be tolerated until the swelling stops, the use of heat later will both feel good and increase the blood flow to the area. For most sports injuries you will want to use ice for the first two days. After this time, heat is the prescribed action. Apply heat for 5 to 10 minutes every 2 hours throughout the day.

Taking a painkiller with anti- inflammation effects is also recommended after initial treatment has begun. Aspirin or ibuprofen is often used, but you should not use these compounds if you have an allergy, have experienced adverse side effects, or are taking medicines that may conflict with aspirin or ibuprofen. Acetaminophen will also help reduce the pain, but it does not affect the swelling.

After initial treatment, a program of stretching and resistance exercises will aid in the healing process. If possible, avoid a direct challenge of the muscle, ligament, or tendon injured. Try to find a program that works the area around the injury by using the parallel muscles. Listen to your body for any pain you get from the exercise. If it is sharp or increases, stop exercising the muscle. If the pain is light and easily tolerated, the exercise may aid the healing process.

You may only be able to stretch the muscles in the affected area for the first 7 to 10 days. The stretching alone will be beneficial during these first few critical days. After a time, actual resistance exercises will be the most beneficial. As you progress, higher weight can be added to the resistance training. You should start the effort with light resistance, and high repetition motions. Frequently, sports injuries can be treated this way successfully in 3 to 4 weeks.

The knowledge of what happens with most sports injuries should make your job as an athlete easier. None of us can completely avoid the risks that might lead to injuries. We all want to win at our sport and actively cross train to reach our goals. When the injury setback occurs, you need to quickly determine its severity and start a plan for recovery. Healing the injury properly can reduce the time it takes to get back into action, and eliminate worry about any future reoccurrence.

Contributed by C. W. Mann, who also writes the syndicated column, SuperFitness.

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