By Ben Austen
Kinetic Physiotherapist and based out of Surrey Physiotherapy Clinic, Coulsdon.
Ouch, I pulled my hamstring, what do I do?
IMMEDIATE TREATMENT
- The most important thing to do as soon as you suffer an injury is to STOP. Listen to your body. When you’re playing football and the adrenaline is flowing, you want to play on to help the team. But this is not helpful and may make the injury worse and could affect your long term development.
- ICE – Applying ice to the painful area (with an appropriate covering) will help to reduce the pain and discomfort
- Compression – bandage or tubigrip will help stop the volume of swelling.
- If the injury feels like a muscle or tendon DO NOT stretch this, it could make it worse.
- Even more importantly – Go and get this injury assessed by a physio. A diagnosis is important so that you know what type of reconditioning exercises you might need and when to return to sport,
WHAT DOES PHYSIO DO?
As a Sport physiotherapist I assess injuries and clinically diagnose the severity of the injury.
Following this comprehensive assessment, a treatment plan needs to be made to enhance safe movement and to reduce the swelling as quickly and as effectively as possible.
Swelling will remain unless it is treated. The more swelling, the slower the receptors and activation in your muscles, ligaments and tendons.
I would then proceed to give you time and pain specific exercises to enhance the recovery, this is then followed by strengthening and individual reconditioning depending on the type of injury, to ensure that a return to training and then playing is done as quickly as possible.
CONCLUSION
Injury is unfortunately not 100% avoidable; to reduce your chances you can do lots of preventative work by strengthening muscles, movements and by monitoring your training load.
In the unlikely event of injury, always get it assessed by a sports physiotherapist.
Surrey Physiotherapy Clinic
180 Brighton Rd, Coulsdon, CR5 2NF
