Physio
LT Rob Orr explains
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GET
IN EARLY: Rapid treatment of injuries is essential
in getting you back on your feet and reducing the
seriousness of the injury.
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Photo
by CPL Craig Eager
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When the body is pushed beyond
its limits, injuries to the soft tissue structures may
result.
Timely and effective management can limit the severity
of the injury, enhance the return to activity and help
prevent recurrence.
With this in mind, this edition will look at the difference
between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ pain and
the self-management of a soft tissue injury.
Good Pain or Bad Pain
Before injuries and illnesses
are discussed the differrence between the ‘bad’
pain from injury illness and the ‘good’ pain
felt during and after training must be distinguished.
So, what is the difference? Firstly, a sudden intense
pain is bad. Stop. This is a ‘bad’ pain.
The ‘good’ pain associated with physical training
is in fact not actually a pain in itself but a feeling
of discomfort. During a training session for example,
you could be breathing heavily, it could feel uncomfortable
but NOT painful.
You may feel fatigue and heaviness in the legs but this
should decrease when you stop. After a physical training
session, muscle soreness, or the more accurately termed
Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness (DOMS), may result.
DOMS typically occurs around 12–24 hours following
a session and may increase in sensitivity for up to three
days following the session. DOMS is generally not of concern
and will be discussed in a future article.
Good Pain - Subsides
the minute you slow down or cease the activity, heavy
limbs after a training session (fatigue), may ease with
stretching.
Bad Pain - Sudden,
intense, in the central back, chest or neck, radiating
through the limbs, prolonged muscle soreness (days after
a work out), unusual rib tenderness, gets worse with stretching.
If in doubt, consult trained medical staff
Soft Tissue Injury Treatment
When the soft tissue structures
(ie muscle) are injured, the well known RICED (Rest, Ice,
Compression, Elevate, Diagnosis) protocol is followed.
Stop - This is the
first and most important step. Do not try and ‘work
through it.’ By not treating the injury immediately
it has the potential to become worse and therefore increase
recovery time. Not letting the team down for the last
10 minutes of the game could mean letting them down for
weeks during a longer recovery period.
The majority of exercise related injuries are ‘soft
tissue’ injuries (sprains, strains, corks, bruising,
muscle tears etc.) and, if the skin is unbroken, the RICED
regime should be followed.
Rest - You have already
stopped what you were doing, but it does not end there.
You need to rest the injury until completely recovered.
That does not mean ‘it feels a bit better now, I’ll
just play the last couple of minutes’. An absence
of pain does not mean that the tissue has recovered and
healed.
Ice - The coldness
of ice causes the blood vessels to constrict, decreasing
the amount of fluid and blood flow going to the injured
site and into the surrounding tissue (the cause of swelling).
This assists in reducing local pain.
