Working through injury

Over the years, I have played many a football game or ran track meets when I should have stayed at home. Injuries are just a fact of life when it comes to sports. But it is how we deal with these injuries that makes us better athletes.

While the NFL players can go inject themselves with pain killers and go right back into a game, most of us are not playing at that level, nor are we being paid the multi-million dollar salaries. The ordinary Joe goes back to work on Monday morning whether he is injured or not.

Thus it is important to know how to deal with injuries. The first thing is to get any injury checked out by a trained physician. While that ache in your shins or elbow may just seem to be a muscle strain, it can be a minor fracture. Unfortunately, I ran many track meets with stress fractures for the better part of two years. Most doctors I know would tell you this is not a smart idea.

The best way to deal with an injury is with RICE. Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

Rest is one of the most important ways to treat an injury. You should allow yourself enough time to heal.

Ice slows blood flow and provides pain relief. Ice should never be placed directly on the skin as it can cause skin damage if left on too long. A good general time frame is 10 minutes

Compression keeps the swelling from increasing too much. There are several methods for compressing an injury but most trainers I know use an ACE bandage or stretch tape.

Elevation helps to reduce the swelling. The injured ares should always be elevated higher than the head.

If you remember these four things and learn to take it slow when getting back to action, you will find that injury time outs will be greatly shortened. What ever you do, don't try to jump right back in the action.