How To Properly Deal With Athletic Injuries: The Do’s And Don’ts

If you are an athlete, then occasional injuries are something that you will have to come to terms with.

The harder you train, the more likely you are to injure yourself. If you don’t learn to deal with your injuries properly, then your recovery time will be unnecessarily extended.

If you spend a lot of time recovering from injuries, then you won’t be able to maximize training time and improve your overall sports performance.

In order to deal with athletic injuries (and get back to sports as quickly as possible), you need to know what the do’s and the don’ts are.

Common Sports Injuries

Before moving on to do’s and don’ts of dealing with athletic injuries, it’s important to first explain what some common sports injuries are.

Taking the time to familiarize yourself with different injuries can make it easier for you to prevent them from happening in the first place.

In addition to preventing them from happening, you should also implement safeguarding measures like insurance, in case they do happen.

A health insurance policy will ensure that you are financially covered for the duration of your injury, which is very important if you play sports professionally.

You should always be prepared for injuries when you are a sportsperson.

Some of the most common sports injuries are:

• Sprains
• Knee injuries
• Fractures
• Back injuries
• Concussions

Do’s

Seek Medical Attention

After any injury, it’s always a good idea to seek out the advice and guidance of a healthcare professional, even if you have sustained similar injuries in the past.

It’s best to visit your regular physician who will have your full medical record and will be able to prescribe you medicine or advise a course of treatment.

Rest and Recover

In addition to seeking medical treatment, it’s also important that you rest and take some time to recover. You shouldn’t rush back to physical activity.

If you try to get involved in exercise again too soon, then you could do more harm than good.

The length of time that you will need to recover depends upon the injury that you have sustained; your physician will be able to tell you exactly how long you need.

Mental Exercise

Something that many sportspeople experience in times of recovery is anxiety and cabin fever. More often than not, sportspeople are very active physically.

When forced into periods of recovery and relaxation, it’s very common for cabin fever to manifest. So that you don’t experience the anguish and irritability associated with cabin fever, take up some kind of mental exercise.

You could consider taking up:

➔ Reading is a very good habit, because it boosts intellect, improves mental performance, and can be very entertaining.

➔ Chess is another good mental exercise, although you will need another person present to play with you (unless you want to play against AI, which can be just as engaging).

➔ Painting can also be a lot of fun, especially if you have a love of art.

➔ Sudoku has been scientifically shown to significantly boost intelligence and even increase IQ. It is a game that can be played alone, either on paper or on a digital device.

➔ Conversation is perhaps the best mental exercise of all. If you have a cell phone or digital device with you during your recovery, then you will be able to phone loved ones or even participate in random chat rooms. Make sure to guard your privacy when participating in online chat rooms, which you can do using a VPN.

Don’ts

Self-medicating

If you play sports professionally, then it is crucial that you don’t try to self-medicate for your injuries.

If you take a drug that is prohibited by your sport’s governing body (and it is discovered in your system), then you could be disqualified from playing.

Unless you are taking paracetamol or ibuprofen for pain, it’s never really safe to self-medicate.

If you visit your physician, then they will be able to prescribe medicine to you that’s suitable. You must follow their dosing recommendations.

Do not try to adjust your own dosage, because this can result in unwanted side effects and even overdoses.

Self-diagnosis

Another thing that you need to avoid doing is self-diagnosing your injuries. When you hurt yourself playing sports, it’s very hard to pin down exactly what the problem is. What seems like a fracture could be a broken bone, for example.

The most effective way of determining exactly what the nature of your injuries are is to visit your regular physician.

If your injuries are severe, then you should visit your local ER instead of a physician.

It can be hard to get same-day appointments with one’s regular physician, especially in the wake of the COVID pandemic, as the medical industry is extremely stretched.

Ignoring Injuries

Something that’s unfortunately common among sports professionals is ignoring injuries, even if they are performance inhibiting.

Many sportspeople continue playing even after injuring themselves or ignore them and try to return to sport soon after.

If you injure yourself during a sports game, then continuing with the game and ignoring injuries could result in them becoming much worse.

In addition to making your injuries worse by persevering, you could also increase the length of the recovery time that you will need to get back to playing sports normally again.

Dealing With Athletic Injuries

If you are a sportsperson, then injuries are an inevitability. If you want to make a career out of sports (or just want to play them recreationally), then you need to take time off when you are injured.

People that don’t take time off can cause their injuries to worsen, which sometimes results in them being unable to play sports again permanently.

The best thing to do after an injury is to visit your physician and ask them for their advice. If you play for a professional team, then they will have their own in-house physician for you to see.

Knowing how to deal with injuries sustained during sports will make you a better sportsperson.

Not only will you be able to regulate your own health more effectively, but you will also be able to advise other people that injure themselves in your presence.

In addition to everything outlined in this article, it’s also a good idea to learn basic first-aid so that you can treat your own injuries, and the injuries of others, on the spot.