Acute Injury
Are you a sports individual and suffered an injury during sports? Have you sustained an acute injury in motor vehicle accident or at work place?
Relax!! Learn how to manage an incidence of acute injury.
As soon as you suffer an injury, acute or chronic, you will be anxious and tensed. Most individuals will be worried of what to do next?
You may suffer an injury during sports, exercise or even during routine daily activities. Sports injuries may occur because of accidents, poor training practices or with use of improper gear. Sports injuries may also be caused when an individual is not medically fit or because of insufficient warm up and stretching exercises. Other injuries may be because of negligence or the unavoidable circumstances.
Injuries are generally classified in two types – acute and chronic.
Acute injuries are the sudden injuries that occur during playing, exercising, or during routine activities and include sprained ankles, strained backs, and fractured hands.
Chronic injuries are the injuries developed over the time because of existing disease conditions.
The common acute orthopaedic injuries include:
- Sprains and strains
- Swollen muscles
- Fractures
- Joint dislocations
Individuals with acute injuries may present with signs such as,
- Sudden, severe pain
- Swelling
- Unable to place weight on lower limb, on leg, knee, ankle or foot
- Tenderness in an upper limb, may be in arm, elbow, wrist, hand or fingers
- Unable to move a joint as normal
- Extreme limb weakness
- Visible dislocation of bone or joint
Regardless of type of injury, acute or chronic, initiate the R.I.C.E therapy –Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation (RICE) method to relieve pain, inflammation and for quick healing.
- Rest – Reduce regular exercise or activities. If your ankle, knee or foot is injured, take weight off of it. A crutch can help and use the crutch on the part other than the injured limb. For an instance, if left part of the body is injured use the crutch on right side and vice versa. This will help you lean away and relieve weight on the injured part.
- Ice – Apply an ice pack to the injured area for 20 minutes, four to eight times a day. You can use a cold pack, ice bag or plastic bag filled with crushed ice and wrapped in a towel. Take care to avoid cold injury; do not apply the ice for more than 20 minutes.
- Compression – Compression (applying even pressure) on the injured area reduces swelling. Injured are may be compressed using elastic wraps, special boot, air cast, or splints. Your sports surgeon may suggest you the device appropriate for your condition.
- Elevation- Raise the injured area to the level above your heart, this helps in reducing the swelling. Pillow can be used for elevation.
As soon as you suffer an injury, you must avoid working through the pain of an injury. On experiencing pain from a particular movement stop that activity. Continuing the activity may worsen the condition.
After the R.I.C.E therapy, please consult your orthopaedic surgeon for further treatment.
Dry Needling
