There are a number of reasons for performing an initial injury assessment, these can include:-

• Medical Screening, this helps us decide whether we can treat you or if you will need referral to other medical professions (x-ray, surgery)
• Which structures are involved. When possible, we determine the possible cause of the problem/complaint. In some cases, this involves determining the anatomical structure that is causing pain. In some cases, this is not possible, but determining all the possible contributing factors to the pain is important. Knowing which structures are involved and how they were injured can guide you on how long the injury will take to recover.
• Causes: We determine the factors that led to the injury and/or complaint. The above step and finding the cause is critical in determining the appropriate treatment plan and preventing it happening again.

The assessment may include both structural and functional testing. We will look at your movements, combined with the therapists manual testing of specific structures. For acute, traumatic injuries the assessment has a strong structural approach. For chronic and/or gradual onset injuries, the assessment has a strong functional approach.

To analyse all the relevant information can be complex (client history, signs and symptoms, aggravating factors, client goals, past medical history, clinical assessment/examination findings, diagnostic imaging, etc).  It will all help towards finding an appropriate treatment, which is why clinical expertise is important.

We have a very patient centred approach which means we take into account what is important to you, what activities you want to get back to and we plan treatment to focus on these goals.

At the end of the assessment, the following information will be identified:

• The patient goals
• A problem list (pain, difficulty with activities, etc) and treatment plan to overcome these.
• A clinical diagnosis as well as possible differential diagnoses.

Our aim is to send you home better understanding your injury and how you can recover. We will set a simple home treatment plan directed towards your goals. This may include up to 5 exercises which we will dicuss how best to put into your routine.

Assessing your injury is important to find out which structure/s have been injured or the majority of the time irritated. This will guide you on what movements to stay away from, just while it recovers and what treatments/exercises can be started straight away and how to progress towards your goals. Complete rest is rarely advised. We will always try to keep your sports training going/keep you in work, we may just need to modify things during recovery.

With reduced access to help for injuries, here are a few steps you can take to help you recover.

Most people have heard of the RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevation) regime to help treat an acute injury such as a strain or sprain, in the early days. However ‘rest’ has now been replaced with ‘protection’ and ‘optimal loading’. Rest initially can be immediately beneficial but early mobilisation (loading) stresses tissues in the correct manner for full recovery. Rest is now known to create joint stiffness and muscles weakness, making a longer recovery.

P – Protection, rather than resting the injured area, think about protecting it from further damage. A short period of rest immediately after is helpful to unload the area but total rest can limit your recovery. Combine this stage with optimal loading.

OL – Optimal loading, early activity encourages early recovery. Progressive loading of injured and supporting tissues can promote optimal healing.

I – Ice, applying ice can help to manage the swelling around your injured muscle or joint. It can also help reduce pain. You can use it for 20 minutes every few hours. Depending on the amount of swelling you may be able to switch to heat after 4 days to promote blood flow to the area for healing.

C – Compression using a bandage or strapping can be combined with ice to reduce swelling. If you have minimal swelling this is not required.

E – Elevation, can be used for short periods of rest again to help with swelling and pain. the injured part needs to be higher than the heart. If swelling is minimal this is not required.

Optimal Loading may be hard to identify but use common sense. Don’t be afraid to move, use the injured area within your own pain limits. A mild pain is to be expected but anything more and you are probably doing too much. This may mean protecting the area using crutches, splint or brace if fully weight bearing is over loading the injured structures. You need to keep progressing what you are doing gradually to help the tissue heal better and prevent injury in the future.

This is where we come in. As a Sports Therapist we can judge where your injury is along the stages of healing time frame. We can advice you where you need to start and how to progress your exercises and activities. As with any injury if you are worried or concerned or want to get it checked out before starting any self directed management, then you can call us, your GP or if you think you may have a fracture or ruptured tendon/ligament A&E.

Try not to take anti inflammatory drugs in the first few days of your injury, let your natural healing process take priority. If on day 3-4 you have swelling and pain then you can start to take them.

During this time there are many exercise videos hitting the internet so I have written this post to give a bit of guidance on how you may be feeling.

Did you have a go at your HIIT session but today you can’t walk, decided to go without socks and had to hobble down stairs?

Don’t worry too much there is a good chance you’re experiencing something called delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). Here is a little info to help get you through.

What is DOMS? It is stiffness and pain that most people will feel build between 24-48 hours after doing high intensity physical exercise or just exercise that your body is not accustomed to. Even trained athletes get DOMS when trying something new.

DOMS can be a sign you did something right, the whole idea of exercise particularly resistance training is that you are creating micro tears in your muscles, so that they can get stronger and firmer. Although it seems an unfair trade, soreness for wanting to improve fitness, it does show your fitness is progressing.

Why the next day and not straight away? For most the soreness will start within the first 24 hours and can peak at 48-72 hrs. It has nothing to with lactic acid and everything to do with blood flow and healing. DOMS creates inflammation around your muscles, a natural and required process to allow muscles to build and heal, this takes a little time.

What can you do to ease DOMS? you could have a warm bath and if you have some, Epsom salts; they are rich in magnesium that helps to boost recovery. If you think you may have really overdone it, you could maybe brave an ice bath but a good alternative is a contrast 20 minute hot and cold shower, every few minutes go from hot to cold and target areas of soreness.

Massage can be effective, right now during coronavirus if you have a foam roller you can try slowly rolling the areas of soreness, remembering to breathe. However your muscles maybe too sore for this so when you feel better in 2-3 days time, it can be something to try.

Gentle exercise like going for a walk, easy run/bike or yoga can get your body feeling back to normal.

Make sure you are eating well, you need all key nutrients to give your recovery a boost, steak, spinach, sweat potato and red peppers is just one example for a good muscle repairing meal.

Words of precaution for exercise

You can workout everyday but it is not advised to do a HIIT workout everyday, these are high intensity and need a few days recovery. If you are not use to these types of workouts then I recommend just one a week, for those use to exercise, then stick to 2 high intense sessions a week. All other sessions are about recovery and easy to moderate effort exercise can boost this. What is easy to moderate for some may be hard for others, it is very individual. If you do get DOMS and it lasts longer than 48hrs next time take it down a notch and build up gradually. It can sometimes last up to 7 days if you really over did it. Start with just 10 minute routines and build up to longer if you really are not use to these types of workouts.

Examples of high intensity exercise

Circuit training, HIIT, Running/brisk walk where you cannot talk, interval training whether running or cycling. anything that gets you heart rate zone into zone 4

Examples of easy/moderate exercise

yoga, pilates, easy running, walking, cycling anything that keeps your heart rate in zone 2-3.

Stay home, save lives. When exercising stay local and within your ability.

How many of you know how to use the lace lock system correctly? It can make a big difference and reduce the risk of some injuries. This article below explains it well, with a video to show you how to use your lace lock system, your toes and feet will thank you.

http://fuelrunning.com/running/what-the-extra-shoe-lace-hole-in-your-running-shoe-is-for?fbclid=IwAR2jdvWXG3-_ax0HyyATLpxxphr6qvtcXh0NlIJs8S727MH3g0CI1Uq0KYc