Rehabilitation of injury Flashcards
Rehabilitation (definition)
There are believed to be three stages to rehabilitation of injuries, these are referred to as:
The process of restoring full function after an injury has occurred.
Early stage:
- This is where the individual will perform gentle exercise with the aim to encourage healing
Mid stage:
- Progressive overload of the affected area (connective tissue and bones) to develop strength
Late stage:
- Functional exercises and drills to enable a player to return to full time training
Types of rehabilitation - Rehab for sports performers can take on many different approaches, these include: (8 things)
- Stretching
- Massage
- Cold Therapy
- Heat Therapy
- Contrast Therapy
- Anti-inflammatory
- Physiotherapy
- Surgery
Stretching
What can it do?
What are the drawbacks?
What are the different types?
What are the three stages?
Use of stretching can increase the speed of recovery, however, using the wrong techniques and at the wrong time can lead to further injury and delayed recovery
Remember types of stretches include:
Static
Passive
PNF
Dynamic etc
Acute stage (early):
- In the first 3 days after injury no stretching should take place
Mid stage:
- 3 days to 2 weeks
- Combine with heat therapy and gentle static and passive stretching
Late stage:
- 2 weeks to 1 month
- Range of motion stretches and some PNF
Massage
What is it?
What can it do? (6)
When should it be used?
When should it not be used?
Deep muscle therapy used to
- realign damaged muscle fibre
- removing toxins from the affected areas.
- Nutrients can be flushed through the damaged tissue to aid recovery
- Muscle fibres - stretched to release tension
- Scar tissue – broken down and removed from area
- Pain reduction
Should be used:
- almost immediately depending on the type of injury for example tennis players can receive this on the side lines during a game.
- However, it is not good for certain soft tissue injuries such as ligament and tendon ruptures.
Cold therapy
What does it do?
What are ways to do it and when should they be used?
- Use of ice baths to reduce tissue temperature and reduce blood flow from vasoconstriction of blood vessels
Should be used:
- Used with acute injuries
- Early stages of the recovery process
Other cold therapy treatments include:
- Cryokinetics – application of ice, followed by rehabilitation exercises. Good for ligament sprains
- Cryostretching – cold application and stretching to reduce muscle tension and increase flexibility
Heat therapy
What does it do?
When it may be used (4)
Use of hot pads to reduce muscle tension and increase blood flow from vasodilation of the blood vessels
Should be used:
- Used on chronic injuries
- Late stage of acute injuries
- 48 hours post injury and during rehabilitation
- Should not be used in the phase of an injury as greater blood flow will increase swelling
Contrast therapy
What?
How?
How long for?
When it may be used (2)
What does research suggest?
- Alternate cold and heat therapy
- Use cold water followed immediately by hot water
- Ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 minutes
Should be used:
- 3-5 days after swelling - Swelling and inflammation should be reduced
Research suggests that it is more effective than heat therapy alone on exercise induced muscle damage
Anti-inflammatory drugs
What are examples?
What does it do?
What are its drawbacks?
When it may be used (1)
Examples include – Ibuprofen and aspirin
Help to reduce the inflammatory response to injury by inhibiting the natural chemical releases in the cells following injury
Interferes with the pain receptors
There are side effects such as:
- Heart burn
- Nausea
It may be used for acute and chronic injuries
Physiotherapy
What is it?
How is it done? (3)
What are the three stages?
- Treatment of the injured area by physical manipulation
- Joint of injured area is often mobilised, stretched or manipulated
- Exercises are encouraged to work the damaged muscle fibres
- Posture and alignment are adjusted to increase biomechanical efficiency to help reduce chances of further injury
- First stage – pain relief and sling for support
- Second stage – tailored exercises to maintain muscle strength
- Third stage – restore normal range of movement, muscle length connective tissue mobility and resting muscle tension
Surgery
When is it used?
What types?
Type of surgery is dependent on the severity of the injury, but can include: (2)
Often seen as the last resort when all other rehabilitation methods have been tried OR if a fast recovery is required by an elite athlete
Surgery can include:
- Arthroscopy - Open surgery
- Relocation of dislocated joints
- Repairing meniscal tears or ligament ruptures
