Osteopathy for Sports Injuries

Injuries, particularly sports related injuries, can be alleviated and possibly prevented if the range of motion of the joints is maintained in good order. Osteopaths encourage movement which in turn reduces pain and stiffness within the muscles. This reduction of stiffness benefits the blood flow to the affected areas.

Osteopathy helps to look for and remove the underlying cause of pain, rather than just treating the symptoms with a pain reliever. This is done by massaging soft tissue in order to decrease the tension in, and stress of, joints. Having achieved a stable and healthy environment there will be an enhanced lymphatic drainage, an increases blood flow, and nutritional intake within the bones and joints and muscles will feel improved.

Educating the patient in the understanding of why “warming up” should take place prior to commencing the sport, what is the correct action to be strived for when moving, and why you do it, could extend the patient’s duration/ability to play the sport in question, (consider those things to do and those to be avoided).

Types of Injuries that can be Treated by Osteopathy

The majority of sports injuries are joint and muscle related – sometimes resulting from impact, twisting and strain, and at other times dislocations and occasionally fractures. The Osteopath can treat those injuries resulting from twisting and straining at relatively early stages. The Osteopath will provide follow up treatment/aftercare for those injuries such as fractures and dislocation only when he/she is confident that the conventional treatment been completed.

The following list is a guide to sports related injuries that can be addressed with Osteopathy:

• Acute & chronic back pain

• Neck pain

• Frozen shoulder

• Tennis elbow

• Golfer’s elbow

• Biceps tendonitis

• Constant knee problems

• Persistent hamstring or calf strains

• Runner’s knee injuries

• Headaches and the prevention of migraines

• Joint pains (hip, ankle, wrist)

• Muscle spasms & cramp

• Hip pain

• Injuries that don’t go away

• Sprained ankle and other sprains

• Achilles tendon injuries

• Digestive & circulatory problems

• Dislocation

• Muscle tear

Types of Osteopathy for Sports Injuries

Sport is undertaken by a range of skill-levels, (professionals, armatures, rookies and part-timers). Sport is undertaken in gyms, on playing fields, in halls on water, on the side of mountains in the snow and any number of other venues and surfaces. Sports attire and equipment is equally diverse. All this variation leads to many categories of injuries which require treatment. The type of treatment and the durations involved are naturally also very different, but equally concerning to the patient.

Injuries may be the result of the playing too hard and too often, with incorrect equipment and attire, with ill-fitting footwear or protective clothing, many possibilities that may limit the body’s ability to function correctly. The Osteopath will massage muscles and tendons in order to increase blood flow, to ease the restrictions that have developed and carry out numerous other treatments. A major part of the treatment is the advice that would assist in reducing the extent of the injuries. Consideration will be given by the Osteopath to the type of attire and possibly the equipment used to determine if there was a possibility of injury resulting from incompatibility between the body and the equipment.