Sports injuries happen at the most unexpected times at both the professional and collegiate level. When these injuries happen, it is important to know how to address sprains, fractures, and similar injuries as they happen.
Sports injury first aid and prevention is especially helpful to help stabilize patients with painful injuries. Make sure that you’re on top of your sports injury first aid, treatment, and prevention skills with these tips for addressing athletic injuries on the field!
Prevention and Self-Treatment are key to managing sports injuries
According to medical experts such as Harvard Medical School, most sports injuries can be evaluated and treated with various forms of first aid.
However, people need to understand the most common types of sports injuries in order to evaluate the severity of an injury. Common sports injuries for athletes of all levels include:
- Sprains
- Muscle pain
- Bruises
- Fractures
- Concussions
Depending upon the severity of an injury, a patient may need to go to either the nearest urgent care center or an emergency room (ER) if the injury is potentially life-threatening. Thankfully, most sports injuries require urgent care.
If a person experiences a sports injury then you should begin the the P.R.I.C.E method of injury treatment. PRICE is a simple acronym to help patients remember the basic steps to managing an athletic injury:
- Prevention: Warm up and stretch before an sport or athletic event to prevent any injuries. Most sports-related injuries are preventable if athletes can effectively prepare before a sporting event.
- Rest: An injured limb and injured tissue require sufficient time to heal. If you experience an injury make sure to limit any pressure and put as little weight on it as possible. Then slowly work on moving the injured limb through therapy and treatment.
- Ice: Icing an injury is usually the simplest and most effective way to manage an injury. Medical experts recommend icing an injury between 15 to 20 minutes a day. As your injury heals, you’ll likely reduce the needed time to ice an injury.
- Compression: A broken limb is likely to swell a few hours after an initial injury. In many cases, you’ll need to compress the injury in a splint or cast depending upon how severe the injury is.
- Elevation: Another simple yet effective way to self-treat an injury is to elevate an injured limb above the head to reduce swelling, inflammation, or pain. If you have a hurt leg, then usually putting a pillow under the leg can help it heal faster.