How to Treat Minor Sports Injuries
Sports injuries occur because your joints can be overused. Running, dancing and playing sports are the most common culprits of injury, since they require repetitive movement of your feet, legs or arms. Common injuries include muscle pulls, neck pain, lower back strain, runner's knee, ankle sprain and tennis elbow. Here is how to treat minor occurrences of these sports injuries at home.
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Instructions
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Apply an ice pack to a muscle pull. The ice helps to relieve the pain and the spasms of a muscle pull. Use the ice pack for 20 minutes at a time. Do this for a few days, after which the muscle pain should disappear.
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Use ice if you develop neck pain or stiffness from playing tennis or riding a bike. Then, stretch the neck gently while sitting a chair. Hold on to the seat with one hand on the sore side of your neck, and bend your neck to the opposite side. Hold the stretch for 20 seconds at a time.
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Try a workout that strengthens your lower back if you strain it. Resting, along with taking an two aspirin pills or other anti-inflammatory solution, also helps the pain. Ice the back every 20 minutes for relief. The back pain should subside within a few weeks.
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Treat a runner's knee with half range-of-motion leg extensions to regain strength. Stretch and massage the knee and the quadriceps. Take two aspirin for four times a day until the runner's knee improves. The aspirin helps to reduce inflammation.
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Limit internal bleeding and reduce the swelling of an ankle sprain by practicing the RICE method: Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. After a few days, practice range-of-motion and strengthening exercises to avoid stiffness.
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Cure tennis elbow, or inflammation of the forearm muscles, by taking lessons on how to properly position yourself in a game. Perform wrist curls with a dumbbell or squeeze a soft rubber ball with your hand to strengthen your forearm muscles.
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Tips & Warnings
The RICE rule is the number-one method for treating your injuries. This means rest for a few days, always ice the injured area to reduce pain, use an elastic bandage or brace to protect the area and elevate to prevent swelling.
See a doctor if your injury doesn't heal within a couple of weeks. X-rays may be taken to determine whether the sprain or pull is a fracture. Surgery and physical therapy may be required if it is more serious injury.
Don't give aspirin to children under 16, as it may contribute to a potentially dangerous condition known as Reye's syndrome. Appropriate doses of acetaminophen may be given for pain, and ibuprofen for inflammation.
