COACHES AT ALL levels of competition have to deal with the frustrating, yet critically important issue of athletic injuries. In heavy contact sports such as football, and even those involving less impact such as soccer or track, there is sometimes that sudden twist or turn of a limb that can place an athlete out of commission for an extended period of time — if the proper precautions, treatments and rehabilitation protocols are not taken.

First off, there is often confusion involving the difference between a sprain and a strain.

-  Sprain: Is an injury involving the pulling, stretching and/or tearing of ligaments, which connect bone to bone.

-  Strain: Involves the pulling, stretching and/or tearing of an athlete’s muscle tissue.
Both injuries can be painful and are evaluated on a varying scale of degrees that determine the period of time before an athlete can return to action. A third-degree sprain or strain, for example, is generally thought of as the worst type of strain or sprain an athlete can sustain and usually involves a tear of greater severity.

Using Ice, Heat
Many times, when these injuries first occur, a fair amount of swelling and inflammation quickly becomes evident. At this juncture it’s essential to apply ice for the first 48 to 72 hours following the initial occurrence. Ice will assist in eliminating swelling and also helps to numb nerve endings, taking away some of the pain and discomfort the injury is causing the athlete.

It’s important to remember, however, that ice does not provide much in the way of healing for the injury. Its primary function is to deter swelling and inflammation.

After the initial icing protocol, a heating pad should be applied to attract increased blood flow to the injured area, delivering much-needed healing agents to assist in the healing process. It’s important not to make heat the first priority when treating swelling. If swelling and inflammation are obvious from the start, then heating the area will attract even more swelling, possibly causing further damage to the area and increased pain to the injured athlete.

Both ice and heat should be applied in intervals of “20 minutes on” and “20 to 30 minutes off.” If at any time, while in the heating stage, the injury takes a turn for the worse and swelling returns, recede to ice until the inflammation has decreased. All sports-related injuries should be reported to a physician before any action is taken.

Injury Prevention
To avoid becoming engrossed with these injuries, the proper precaution of an extensive stretching program must be in check. Stretching should not be done while the body is cold and should only be performed after a warm-up has taken place. A warm-up is considered any type of light-impact aerobic activity that brings the body to a mild sweat, in turn raising core body temperature.

At the completion of the warm-up, all major muscles that are going to be used in the upcoming activity should be stretched, holding each stretch for a minimum of 30 seconds per muscle group. When stretched, muscles and joints become more fluid — moving more easily during athletic activity — therefore making the odds of suffering a sprain or strain significantly less.

Taking the right precautionary measures and utilizing the correct injury treatments helps ensure that certain setbacks do not stop an athlete from reaching his full athletic potential.